Naruto: Split
by EdStargazer
Summary: Orochimaru's seal in the Forest of Death has an unintended consequence. Instead of one Naruto, there are now two. Both claim to be the real Naruto but how can one prove it when that Naruto is a female. Chapter 8: Battle Royale
1. Split

Canon until the events begin in the Forest of Death.

**The Split.**

Orochimaru slammed his five point seal into Naruto's stomach. The blonde boy screamed in pain and passed out. The Snake Sannin let the limp form of Naruto fall towards the ground but Sakura managed to catch and pin his jacket to a tree with a well thrown kunai.

The jacket lifted up to reveal the seal on is stomach. The black ink of the seal began to pulse red in time to the boy's heartbeat as the extra five point seal played havoc with the chakra of the Kyuubi within Naruto's body.

* * *

Within Naruto's mind and soul, the cage of the Kyuubi flickered as the seal was beginning to fail. The residual energy the Yondaime Hokage had left in the seal as a safeguard materialized and looked at the demon the seal held.

"Your power will not be released today, kitsune," the Yondaime said as he pushed his remaining chakra into undoing the damage the five point seal had done to his and his wife's ultimate creation in the sealing arts.

The Kyuubi no Yoko grinned as much as his form would allow as the Death Reaper Seal failed beneath the full power of its unrestrained might.

"You cannot stop me human. The interference of the additional seal has forced this one open," the Kyuubi no Yoko shouted in glee as his spirit passed through the now opened bars.

The Yondaime shadow clone knew his power was rapidly depleting but finished destroying the five point seal on his son. The bars of the cage began closing quickly as the Kyuubi was not completely out of the cage.

"I might not be able to stop you completely, but your victory shall be a hollow one, demon. I'm sorry Naruto," the Yondaime said as he sped through dozens of hand signs in a different and forbidden jutsu.

"Flesh Clone Technique!" the Yondaime roared as the Kyuubi no Yoko was nearly through the cage door. The bars solidified once more cutting off the tails of the demon fox and leaving them within the cage.

"My power!" the tailless fox roared as it found its consciousness being pulled out of Naruto's mindscape.

* * *

In the forest, red and blue energy began to swirl about the pinned form of Naruto. Orochimaru and Sakura looked on in horror as the energy formed a sphere around the blonde boy

_'You think you have won but I have a trick of my own, human_,' the Kyuubi no Yoko thought as it manipulated its own energy within Naruto's body as the flesh of Uzumaki Naruto was torn asunder.

Sakura could only stand in awe as the multicolored sphere began to stretch out; first into an ovate shape then pulling in opposite directions. The red chakra swirled around one side and the blue chakra around the other until two separate spheres of swirling chakra hung in midair. The light faded until two forms appeared within them only to fall to the ground below as the chakra faded.

'This is very interesting,' Orochimaru thought. His plan to mark the Uchiha boy could wait. If the demon escaped, he would be killed as well and his life was more important than his next vessel. If this was something else entirely, his patience would bring him something new that even he had only heard rumors about. True immortality might be within his grasp. The Snake Sannin turned and headed out of the Forest of Death while avoiding the approaching ANBU and test proctors, including his own former apprentice.

The kunoichi of Team 7 jumped to the ground to see if she could help either person but was shocked at what she saw. A frail looking Naruto and a girl with the same hair color and a fading black seal on her stomach lay unconscious in the dirt of the forest. Both looked extremely emaciated and both were barely breathing.

Sasuke dropped down to the forest floor more out of curiosity than a desire to help. He pushed his hands into his pockets as the first outsiders arrived in the area. Several ANBU and the proctor Mitarishi Anko had weapons drawn and were looking for a fight until the squad captain gave an order to stand down.

The people all stared at the pair of blondes on the ground. Neither one looked like they would be awakening at any time soon. The squad captain spoke, "Who witnessed this?" he asked.

Sakura slowly raised her hand and said, "I did."

The man in the mask nodded and point to both blondes and Sakura. "Mitarishi-san, please bring the Uchiha back with you. Deliver him to the secure wing of the hospital."

Anko nodded but Sasuke protested.

"We're in the middle of the Chunin Exam here, we can't just leave!" he said until a quartet of masked faces looked at him. The combined killer intent nearly matched that of the woman he had just faced so the boy quickly quieted down.

The blondes were picked up in the arms of a pair of ANBU who vanished with the captain in a swirl of leaves by shun-shin jutsu. The last remaining ANBU gestured to Sakura who stood up. He took hold of the girl's arm and vanished. Anko just grabbed Sasuke by the collar and vanished as well.

* * *

Some time later in the hospital, the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen looked into a room lined heavily with security seals. The male blonde lay in the room with several intravenous lines running into his arms. Nutrients and fluids ran down the lines and into his body. Residual traces of the original jutsu were pulling the infusions into the body as fast as they could be administered. The aged man knew that the girl in the next room was receiving the same treatment. The leader looked to the medic in charge.

"What do you have to report?" the leader asked in a low voice.

"Both subjects are processing whatever IV fluids and nutrients are given to them at an astonishing rate. Our specialists cannot identify the jutsu used to create this but both subjects are human. Sir, initial tests show the boy matches Uzumaki Naruto's genetic structure exactly but the girl poses a problem. Without a specialist we can only guess but the girl seems to partially match the boy, as if a twin but preliminary tests show a difference."

"Explain," Sarutobi said in his quiet voice.

"It is not easy to explain, Sir," the medic hesitated. "You understand how the genes for gender work correct? Males have an XY chromosome pair and females have a XX chromosome pair. The boy as I said matches Uzumaki Naruto's pattern exactly but the girl does not. However, the X chromosome in the girl matches that of Uzumaki Naruto and her two X chromosomes appear identical to one another. That may cause problems later on but for now it is not an issue as she seems healthy. We are going to have to to a detailed analysis of the other genes to see what else has changed.

Sarutobi nodded slowly. He understood the basics but they had few doctors or medics who dealt with genetics at that level. The village was good at some aspects of genetics but frowned on direct manipulation in any fashion. The Hyuuga routinely screened clan members for bad recessives before allowing children to be conceived but that was the limit of what was done in Konoha.

To make matters worse, the one person who was most knowledgeable in genetics was Senju Tsunade. She was nowhere near the village and refused to return. Sarutobi grumbled and decided that he had enough of that. The boy he loved as a grandson was in a bad way and his student was going to have to face up to her past one way or another.

Sarutobi walked to an unoccupied room nearby and made some hand signs. He pressed his hand to the floor and said, "Summoning Technique." The chakra smoke cleared to show an eight foot tall monkey with a Konoha headband on his forehead.

"Enma, I need a favor from you," Sarutobi began before the Monkey Lord could speak. "I need to know if your people have contact with the Slugs that Tsunade summons."

"That is an odd request, Hiruzen, but we can contact them. Why?" Enma asked in his deep voice.

"I need the slugs to bring Tsunade back here at once. They can reverse summon her to their realm then re-summon her here. I do not want to spend weeks or months searching for my student and I need her expertise right away," Sarutobi explained.

Enma nodded. "I understand and approve. I will make the request of them. It may take a few hours as intermediaries are required. If you have a physical message I can present to the slugs it will make things easier to arrange."

"Give me an hour and I will have a lesser monkey bring it you, my friend," Sarutoib said.

Enma nodded and vanished in a puff of chakra smoke.

* * *

Tsunade was nervous. She had hit several jackpots in a row. She had enough in winnings to pay off her debts plus interest. Her apprentice Shizune stood by as the Slug Sannin moved to another machine and fed money into it. The wheels spun and came up on the jackpot once more. Tsunade paled as the money poured out and a floor boss was forced to count out another jackpot.

No sooner had she passed the winnings to Shizune when a small slug approached the group.

"Tsunade-sama, it is imperative that you come with me. A situation has arisen that in Konoha that needs your personal attention," the slug said in a soft voice.

Tsunade had been expecting something bad to happen and now she understood her winning streak.

"I am not going back there," Tsunade growled to the small blue and white slug.

"Forgive me, Tsunade-sama but you leave us with no choice," the slug's voice said in a sad tone.

The slug plopped down on Tsunade's foot and both the blonde woman and the slug vanished in a puff of smoke.

Shizune looked on in awe and then looked down at the money in her hands. She hurried back to her room to get the luggage and Tonton before she could head home for the first time in over a decade. A visit to various money lenders along the way was also planned.

* * *

Tsunade was cursing louder and fouler than any time in Sarutobi's recollection when she appeared in his office. The slug that had been waiting there dispersed itself.

The blonde woman glared at her former teacher. "What the hell are you thinking doing this to me Sensei?" she shouted.

Sarutobi let the woman yell for another few seconds before he stood and glared back while releasing a killer intent that would have given Orochimaru pause. Tsunade stopped and backed up a step in shock.

"That is enough out of you, Tsunade," the Hokage spoke in a low voice. "I called you back because I needed you here for something of great importance. If I had the time to waste I would have recalled you through normal means but time is of the essence."

The Hokage held out a medical folder to the legendary medic. Still stunned quiet by her teacher's show of will, she took it and opened the folder. She scanned the first page and then sat in the chair behind her to flip through page after page of information while muttering the whole time, "This is impossible."

"If it is impossible, Tsunade, then you should tell it to the two people lying under heavy guard in the hospital security ward," Sarutobi replied.

* * *

Tsunade came out of the room and pulled off her gloves. She had made a thorough exam of both tweens and was shocked by what she had found. Both still had not awakened but more information meant more confusion.

The boy seemed to be completely normal in every respect except one. All of his skin was new and unscarred while the girl had fine scarring on her from training injuries. The boy had no seal on his stomach while the girl does. The boy was in every possible test Uzumaki Naruto while the girl was showing signs of not being him. Her eyes had shifted color to more of a purple and the roots of her hair were coming in red instead of the blonde that was showing. The Sannin had also performed an inspection and found a complete female reproductive system in the girl although not yet active. A slight hint of breast development was starting to show as the girl gained weight from the intravenous feeding.

Sarutobi looked at Tsunade.

"Well?" he asked.

"Congratulations, Sensei, its twins," Tsunade remarked sardonically. "Judging by the end result and the witness testimony of this Sakura girl, I would guess some kind of flesh clone jutsu gone wrong."

"Flesh clone? Is that even possible?" the older man replied in shock.

"Possible, oh yes. I had seen the incomplete jutsu scroll for one a long time ago when the creator had some medical questions. It takes a lot of chakra and a lot of body mass to accomplish. Well body mass or a vat of something to make the new body from. It was created by one Uzumaki Kushina from the forbidden sealing scrolls of Uzushio. She never got past the concept phase."

"As you know, she had been from the Land of Whirlpool and the previous jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi. She came up with the idea in a moment of anger over her situation. Her original intent had been to split herself in two with the Kyuubi's essence in the flesh clone and be able to kill it since it would have no power of its own. But she never used it," Tsunade finished.

"What stopped her from doing that?" Sarutobi asked.

"The Yondaime forbid it and then she found out she was pregnant with the blonde gaki over there," Tsunade replied while pointing to the room holding the boy.

Sarutobi looked at the girl still unconscious behind the glass. "So what would go wrong with one not being a clone of the other?"

"That part I couldn't tell you Sensei," Tsunade said. "I couldn't even tell you which one is which right now. The girl shows signs of being the original and the boy being the clone but how did one become a girl? There are too many unanswered questions. Are both Naruto? Is one Naruto and one the other the Kyuubi? Heck, are both even going to wake up would be the next question. There is so much we are unable to even guess at right now."

"What I can tell you is that the jutsu used what mass Naruto had and split it between the original and the clone. That is why both are so badly thin and drained right now. Their bodies are trying to rebuild the flesh and complete the jutsu which is why traces of the technique are still detectable. It should dissipate as the subject's weight reaches original levels. After that, I would burn every record we have gotten so far on this technique or put it in a black file before someone who shouldn't get a hold of it."

"But for right now, I need to do two things. First is I need some sleep and to wait for Shizune to get here from Tea Country. The second …"

Tsunade spun and punched Sarutobi in the face hard enough to break his nose and send the old man back into the wall behind him.

"That is for messing with me and dragging me back here, Sensei"

* * *

Days passed in the hospital while events unfolded within Konoha. Five teams passed the second test of the Chunin Exams and advanced to the Finals without an elimination round; a team from Suna with the Kazekage's children in it, a team from Rain, Team 10, Team 8 and Team Guy.

In the hospital ward, Tsunade kept a watch on the pair of children. The intravenous feeding had gone on for a week until all signs of the jutsu had faded from both the boy and girl and both appeared normal to all medical scans. The blonde boy looked exactly as Naruto had when his team was asked to identify him.

The girl was a different matter. Her initial whisker marks had faded to mere white lines on her face but would be noticeable if she tanned heavily. Her irises had become fully purple and her hair was coming in a red few remembered seeing. Her face softened and took on a different cast but was still recognizable as Naruto. Even her body changed as she gained weight she developed the modest but noticeable breasts and hips of a girl about twelve to thirteen years old. Tsunade shuddered when she recognized the overall look as that of her distant cousin and Naruto's mother, Kushina.

'Of course, it should. With only the maternal DNA to work with, only the attributes of Kushina and none of Minato's would be there to build with. This could become a huge problem later on since Kushina was quite a beauty.'

A buzzing noise from the boy's room alerted the medics to a change. A nurse went in to see the boy first. Tsunade waited for the Hokage and ANBU to arrive before going in to see what would happen.

The blonde boy was practically bouncing off the bed. She wondered how anyone could be so hyper after just waking up after all he had been through.

"Hey, Old Man, why am I in here?" the boy yelled out as soon as the Hokage had entered the room.

The Hokage smiled gently at the boy. "You have been very sick. You only just woke up and we need to make sure of a few things. Now, this doctor has been taking care of you and never met you before. Could you introduce yourself to her?"

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I am going to be Hokage someday! Believe it!" the blonde boy crowed out with his bright blue eyes seeming to shine with confidence.

Tsunade arched an eyebrow at the boy then looked at Sarutobi. "You sure he is not brain damaged, Sensei?" she asked.

Sarutobi chuckled. "No, that is normal for him," he replied.

A high pitched cream from the other room alerted them to the girl waking up.

The Hokage and Tsunade hurried to the other room to see the girl with a panicked look and clutching her chest muttering "Dispel. Dispel. Dispel!" She looked up as the people entered the room.

"Old Man! Why do I have boobs? I must have done my Sexy Jutsu somehow but it won't go away!" The girl was crying in her panic by this point.

"It's going to be all right. Could you tell me your name?" Tsunade asked the girl.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto," the girl replied.

* * *

"Well, this certainly is a situation," Sarutobi said as he headed up to his office. It had taken almost an hour for the girl Naruto to calm down. Even then Tsunade felt she should be monitored at all times and Sarutobi assigned an ANBU guard to stand watch in each room now that the children were awake.

Sarutobi hoped that Ibiki could learn something from them in his 'informal chats'.

Morino Ibiki was not afraid of many things. He could count on one hand the things that even bothered him to any extent. Clowns, disease, incapacity of his mind; those things were on the short list that he was aware of until this point. Meeting the girl in this situation would forever be added to his list.

It had begun well enough. He turned on the recorder and sat back.

"For the record, I need your name, age, and team," Ibiki asked.

"You're that scary examiner guy, aren't you?" Naruto asked.

Ibiki nodded. "The sooner you answer my questions, the less scary I will be."

"Um, Uzumaki Naruto, age 12, and I am on Team 7," she replied.

"Good, now, tell me about the events in the Forest of Death."

"Well, I got blown away from my team and this giant snake ate me. But I blew it apart by using my Shadow Clone technique and escaped. Then I hurried back to my team only to find some scary Grass lady threatening the teme and trying to get our scroll. I saved him and then the lady gets mad and brings out another huge snake and it attacks the teme but I save him again and called him a scaredy cat. Then I get um a bit wild and attacked the Grass lady. I start beating her but then she pulls out some jutsu and I ended up in here like this. The doctor Tsunade said they were looking into seeing what caused it and I shouldn't worry yet."

Ibiki arched an eyebrow. 'I don't think she even took more than one breath during that entire statement.'

"Is there anything else you recall while you were out? A dream perhaps?" Ibiki asked.

Naruto thought for a moment. "All I can remember about dreams is someone saying 'I'm sorry, Naruto' but I don't remember seeing anyone," she said after a minute.

Ibiki nodded and switched to more mundane questions that he could verify by asking Naruto's teammates and teacher.

As he got up to leave, the girl asked him a question.

"Ibiki-san, will they be able to make me a guy again?" Naruto asked.

Ibiki was taken by surprise by that. He knew he should not give out anything but the tone of a scared girl got to him.

"I am sure they will be able to get things the way they should be, Uzumaki," he said after a moment.

Ibiki walked out and headed to the boy's room. He was bothered by the thought of losing everything that made him who he was and waking up powerless to do anything about it. It immediately went to number two on his list; right below clowns.

* * *

"Both children gave near identical stories Hokage-sama," Ibiki reported. "While a few words were different the details are the same. The background questions and answers match as well. My routine doubling back and cross examinations of both yielded no discrepancies. They both answered the identity verification questions in the files correctly. If one is lying then without some intense interrogation techniques, I would have to say in my professional opinion that BOTH are Uzumaki Naruto."

Ibiki got up and left after that. The Hokage looked at Tsunade and then to the recently arrived Jiraiya, his final student. "So, any ideas?" he asked.

Tsunade spoke first. "I am about out of tests I can run on them. Neither one is showing any signs of deterioration or instability. The girl is already showing signs of the Kyuubi chakra beginning to leak from the seal but according to existing reports, that is a designed allowance. Her body is actually converting it to normal chakra faster than previous tests show. She is going to be a powerhouse when she gets her strength back."

"The boy is another issue entirely. His chakra levels are jonin level already, Sensei. He might not be at full capacity yet either. However, he is showing no signs of anything that is not human about him. He could literally be what Naruto might have been if he had never been inflicted with the Kyuubi. He is what the son of the Fourth could possibly have been like," Tsunade finished.

Sarutobi nodded. "That is a problem for us. We cannot do anything to the boy because he looks like Naruto and is completely normal otherwise. We cannot do anything to the girl because she has the Yondaime's seal on her. Without more conclusive evidence, we do not know which is which. People are asking questions. We have kept all of Team 7 in isolation up until now but we cannot hold them forever."

A knock on the door interrupted Sarutobi.

"I am sorry to bother you. We have a situation down in the secure ward with the girl," the nurse said in a winded voice.

"What's wrong?" Tsunade asked.

The nurse looked at the Hokage then at Jiraiya before looking back to Tsunade. "She tried to use the bathroom and now is in there crying and won't come out."

* * *

Tsunade gently knocked on the bathroom door. "Naruto, open up," she said in a gentle voice.

"It's gone," whimpered a voice from the other side. "How can they fix me if it's gone?"

Tsunade closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Of course _that_ was the problem. "Naruto, you need to open the door and come out or I will break it down. We can fix this," she said in a less gentle voice.

"Can't be fixed," was the only reply followed by more sobs.

"Naruto, are you leaning on the door?" Tsunade asked.

"No, leave me alone," the girl replied.

Tsunade smirked and punched her hand through the door next to the knob. She then reached over and unlocked the door before opening it. The girl looked at her in shock with wide eyes as Tsunade stepped into the small room.

"Okay, time for lesson number one. Female equipment and how to use the bathroom," Tsunade said as she stuffed a towel into the hole in the door and closed it behind her.

* * *

The male Naruto had heard the commotion nearby but pretended to ignore it. The sclera of his eyes flashed red for a moment before returning to the normal white.

'_Remember, playing the fool is your safest plan right now. Keep your true self hidden Naruto. As far as they know or can prove, you are the true Naruto. In due time, we will get what is ours_,' crooned the voice in the back of his mind.

The boy kept himself from nodding. He was free from that smiling moron at last and he planned to stay that way. He had no idea how or why this had happened but he would make the most of it. When the time was right, vengeance on those who had ignored or tormented him would be sweet indeed.

Deep within the boy's mind, a second presence was hiding.

_'Separating the real Naruto from that grinning fool and damaging the original body enough to cause the jutsu to rebuilt it as a female took most of my remaining power. I will regain the power but it will take time. I am vulnerable now in a way not known since the time of the Six Path Sage. My continued existence depends on this boy until I can gather enough chakra to reform a body of my own. Once that happens, I shall recover my power from behind that blasted seal and leave this place a ruin. Then to find the Death god, recover the rest of it and devour the soul of the man who dared stand up to me.'_

* * *

Next Chapter: Separate Lives

* * *

Flesh Clone Technique (File Mention only: Further research on this of similar jutsu forbidden)

Created by Uzumaki Kushina  
Rank: A (Yondaime Hokage Note: Beyond S)  
Hand Seal Sequence: Initial test: 87 seals (Sequence Deleted by Yondaime Hokage)

Jutsu Notes: The jutsu intends to create a duplicate body of a person out of the flesh or substitute material available. Intellect would be limited but uncertain as to how much as the jutsu has never had a practical test. Initial test of jutsu performed on a lab animal resulted in identical animals being created. Further animal testing recommended before use on human subjects considered.

Forbidden: Any further use or researching of the jutsu is banned by Yondaime Hokage and all other records and notes pertaining to the jutsu destroyed.

* * *

Author's Afterword:

This story is a plot idea that had been in my head and flash drive for some time. It uses the initial plot concept pioneered by EroSlackerMicha in his story 'He Said, She Said' with a major difference. Instead of Naruto merely becoming a girl, he is instead split into two beings. The original body was intentionally damaged by the Kyuubi by destroying the genes the Yondaime provided and the jutsu rebuilt the body as female using the remaining chromosomes. The flesh clone contains the Evil or Yami Naruto seen briefly in recent manga. My original concept had only the Kyuubi with a copy of Naruto's memories but using the new idea from Kishimoto may only add to the tension as both are in fact Naruto. Artistic license allows the jutsu to work as stated by me since I created it.

Please note, updates on this story will be slow in coming

**Edit 12/14/10**: Fixed vague references to only the Y chromosome being destroyed. The intent as written was for all of the Yondaime's genes to be deleted


	2. Separate Lives

**Separate Lives**

Team 7 had been in this secure apartment for days now. It was comfortable. They each had their own room to sleep in. But even Sakura knew it was a prison. Sasuke merely brooded and muttered often that this was Naruto's fault. It took three days of close confinement with Sasuke for Sakura to snap.

"This has to be Naruto's fault," muttered Sasuke once more as he sat at breakfast.

"Oh shut up," Sakura growled back at the dark haired boy. "You blame Naruto for everything even when it isn't his fault. He is annoying but he didn't do this to us. That lady who attacked us did something to him. You saw that even if you won't admit it.

Sasuke was shocked by Sakura's defense of their absent teammate. He just frowned and went into his room and closed the door. Sakura frowned and thought back to how broken the blonde; the two blondes she corrected herself; looked after that jutsu. She looked at her own meal and pushed it away. She wanted her mom's cooking. Her best effort paled in comparison but it was still better than whatever Sasuke had made for them today. She had lunch duty and looked to see what was left in the cabinets.

During her search, the door to the apartment unlocked and Kakashi walked in followed by Morino Ibiki. She had already had several conversations with the man as he probed her recollection of the event in the Forest. She was intimidated but she could tell he was not trying to be so after seeing him at work in the Exam. He just wanted her knowledge of the event.

"Kaka-sensei," she said happily. The silver haired leader of Team 7 had not been seen by her since the entry into the Exam nearly a week prior.

"Yo," the man said and smiled through his mask with his sole visible eye creasing shut. "I am here to pick the pair of you up as you are being released into my custody. Where is Sasuke?"

"Right here," spoke the dark haired boy from the doorway to his bedroom.

"Good, well the Hokage has released you both with one provision. You are not to mention the events in the Forest of Death to anyone. The entire conflict between Team 7 and that Grass ninja have been coded a Class S secret," Kakashi explained to them.

Sakura blinked at that. "But Kaka-sensei, it was only another shadow clone, right?"

"I can't say anything about what I don't know about Sakura," Kakashi said with his strange smiling eye look.

Ibiki spoke up. "If you ever feel a driving need to discuss the events, come speak with me about them. I will not answer anything but I will listen to whatever you have to say or speculate about. I am a very good listener," he finished.

Sakura nodded slightly while Sasuke looked disinterested.

"Now, do you both understand that the details of the events involving the battle in the Forest of Death with the Grass ninja are an S class secret? I require a verbal response of understanding from each of you," Ibiki said in a formal tone.

"I understand," Sakura said.

After making a face and a pause, Sasuke replied "I understand."

* * *

Sarutobi waited silently while Tsunade finished her medical report on both Narutos.

"I find no deviation from medical records outside of normal maturation in the male Naruto. I do have an issue with the lack of medical history on the boy prior to this. The required annual physical on the boy was minimal at best and did little more than list his height and weight. He was given the minimal amount of medical care required to insure his health."

Tsunade glared at the recently arrived Jiraiya next.

"Even the seal holding the Kyuubi was not inspected on a regular basis."

"As far as the girl, it is difficult to say how she is even intact. The jutsu did more than simply erase the Y chromosome. It took more work to isolate but somehow in each chromosome pair in every cell of her body; the genes provided by the Yondaime were destroyed. Her genetic structure was half destroyed and somehow the jutsu rebuilt her body using the only available material. She is no longer genetically Uzumaki Naruto in that respect. Half daughter, half mother, half clone? There is no term for it. All I can say for certain is that the girl is the original body and that she managed to survive a catastrophic event."

"Genetically, she is closer to her mother than she is to the male Naruto. She has half of her mother's genes and none of Minato's any longer. That means she will not be blonde anymore. The hair and eye color change are just the start of the differences she has now. We do not know if the Uzumaki ability to suppress the bijuu is active in her genes but we do know that it was a recessive trait. Minato did not possess that trait so it did not show in Naruto. Kushina did pass it on to Naruto as a recessive gene, then his, um, her ability could manifest eventually. That brings me to the important point regarding that ability. The seal holding in the Kyuubi is intact and Jiraiya's tests show that the thing is still in there."

The Hokage looked at his other student who merely nodded in agreement.

"Well, this poses a problem. You are telling me that Naruto was basically split into two people; one male and one female; and that both are stable?" the aged leader asked.

"Yes, physically both are stable. Mentally, I think the boy will adjust to this a lot faster than the girl will. If we told him he is the original, he would believe it and just move on with life without worrying about it."

Sarutobi nodded briefly as he thought looking over the report.

"The chakra in each of them. Your report only mentions that in passing," he said.

Tsunade looked to Jiraiya to answer that question.

"The boy has the level of chakra that Naruto had going into the Forest. However, I expect that to decline over the next few months to a more normal but still high level. Without the Kyuubi chakra forcing his reserves to grow and remain inflated, his total overall capacity will only mature from where he is now. My current estimate of his chakra level is slightly above yours in your prime, Sensei."

"The girl's current chakra has stabilized at about three times your level in your prime. Accoring to the Academy's records, it is actually more stable and settled now than in any time in the past, um, when she was a boy that is. The seal is intact and functioning as designed. If she is trained in chakra control now while the chakra is stable, she could be a powerhouse in a matter of months," Jiraiya said.

"That is the heart of my problem," Sarutobi sighed. "Do we train them or do we lock them up?"

"Neither one has done anything wrong so justifying locking up either one would be cruel, Sensei," Jiraiya growled out. "Even as a baby you never considered doing that to him!"

Sarutobi nodded.

"So we make the best of it and they are to be released upon medical clearance. I do know both need to be talked to and both should be made aware of the other's existence. But beyond that, I am at a loss. My heart tells me to trust in Naruto but which one is really him?"

"Both," Tsunade said immediately. "We can simply tell them that the jutsu split them into separate people. Kakashi tells me he is familiar with the shadow clone jutsu so telling a small half truth with a lot of 'We don't knows' should satisfy him."

"What do you propose Tsunade?" Jiraiya said puzzled.

"We tell them that the jutsu was designed to split the person into male and female bodies. I know the girl is going to freak out at that. I propose we keep her under constant guidance and teaching until she accepts she is a girl now and learns the things girls need to know. I can tell you for a fact she is going to be dealing with being a girl full force in about three more weeks."

The men cringed at that comment and both were quietly glad it was not them dealing with this.

"One last point," Tsunade said. "We can't really go around calling both of them Naruto, can we?"

* * *

The male Naruto was glad to be out of the hospital room after so long. The lack of a window and a locked and guarded door had made escape impossible for the hyperactive boy. He realized that being hyper was a physical part of him that he would need to find a way to control somehow. His darker outlook on life was a change he would slowly bring about into the public eye.

'One could not come out unscathed from the Chunin Exams and this experience, could one?' he thought as he heard the door unlock.

"Uzumaki Naruto, come with me," the ANBU guard said in a monotone voice. The boy grabbed the robe he had been given and put it on before following. The ANBU led the boy to a conference room nearby where the Hokage waited for him.

"Hey, Old Man!" the boy said with an honest smile. The Hokage had always been kind to him so even now the boy held him in a higher regard than he did most people.

"Ah, Naruto, good to see you are feeling better," the leader said in his normal voice. "Please have a seat while the other person this meeting is for arrives."

Naruto nodded slowly but sat down in the chair the Hokage indicated furthest from the door.

Minutes later, Naruto noticed the door opened to let in a girl. He could see she was about his height and had blonde hair with dark red roots and purple eyes. He did realize she looked familiar but he couldn't place her. The girl looked at him and stopped as her eyes widened in shock.

The Hokage spoke before anyone else could.

"Uzumaki Naruto meet Uzumaki Naruto," he said.

Both male and female Narutos reacted the same way. Each pointed at the other and yelled, "Imposter!" and tried to climb up onto the table to attack the other. Tsunade held back the girl while the ANBU kept the boy in place.

"Stop!" the Hokage yelled before either child could break free. The pair responded to the shout and looked to the man both thought of as a grandfather.

"Sit down, both of you," he commanded in what both Narutos always thought of as the Old Man's 'Hokage voice'. They shuddered as it had only been directed at him/her when he/she had done a particularly destructive prank.

"I will explain this one time before I will listen to any back talk. The jutsu that was used on you in the Forest was one we know very little about. All we do know for certain is that somehow you were split into two people, one male and one female. Right now, both of you are the result of that jutsu. Both of you are real and neither one is a fraud or imposter. Tsunade has done enough tests on the pair of you to confirm that much."

Sarutobi paused when he noticed the girl had started pouting.

"What's wrong?" he asked in a slightly softer tone.

"Why couldn't_ that_ one have been the girl?" the girl said in a strained voice.

The ANBU held onto the boy as he tried to jump to his feet.

Sarutobi glared at the boy before the boy could respond.

"I don't know why this happened, Naruto," Sarutobi said to the girl.

"I'm Naruto!" the boy shouted.

"No you're not, I am!" the girl yelled back just as loudly.

The Hokage let out some killer intent at both children once more to quiet them before things got out of hand. Both tweens sat and sulked after Sarutobi stopped his glare.

"That is one of the purposes of this meeting. We have to decide the future of both of you. It is obvious that one of you will need a new name. Now, did you ever come up with a name for the girl in your Sexy Technique?"

Both boy and girl continued pouting and glaring at the one across the table but simultaneously both said 'No'.

"Well, then, we shall have to name this young lady something special," the Hokage said in a kind tone. "Do you have any preference for a name?"

"How about the girl from the manga; Usagi? That was where I got the look for the Sexy Technique. Or maybe Tomato with those roots she has?" the boy said.

The girl blushed brighter and deeper than Hinata and seriously looked like a tomato before Tsunade spoke up.

"We could always let her be Naruto and you could be named Usagiuma to match your attitude," she said after hearing the childhood nickname for Kushina spoken from the boy's lips.

The pouting boy remarked back, "Well, at least I _look_ like Naruto. If I changed names then people would ask questions."

Sarutobi was impressed by the logic of the boy's comment but disturbed by how quickly the boy turned on the girl. He noticed the girl was already under a lot of stress in this meeting and decided to end things for now.

The leader turned to the girl and got her attention.

"Naruto, I want you to consider a new name for yourself. This is something special as few people get the opportunity to name themselves. But choose one you can live with as you may have it for some time," Sarutobi said.

The girl just nodded and fled the room as soon as Tsunade let her stand.

* * *

Tsunade found Naruto hiding in the bathroom once more. The only difference was the door was unlocked this time.

"Unlocked this time?" Tsunade said with a hint of a smile.

"You could just break it down again if I did. Last time, the worker gave me the stink eye when he had to replace it. I didn't want to give him another chance," the girl replied quietly.

The girl looked up with teary eyes into Tsunade's brown ones. The purple seemed to burn through the fog of years spent drinking, gambling and running away to the depths of Tsunade's soul.

"You said you could fix this," she said in a whispered voice on the verge of tears.

Tsunade's heart quaked at the whispered accusation. The Sannin knew this was one thing she could not run away from. She looked down as she felt something she had not felt for the first time in years; shame.

"I thought I could when I said it, Naruto. This is something beyond even me. The jutsu that did this is beyond my capability to fix, Naruto," Tsunade said in a sad quiet voice.

"So now what do I do?" the girl asked.

Tsunade could see a hint of herself in that question. Many years before she had said the very same thing to her mirror after Dan had died. She knew her decision then was not the best because it still hurt. But somehow, this troubled child had quickly found her way into Tsunade's heart. In spite of all she had been through, the girl represented the tiniest link to something she no longer had; a family.

"I'm not really the best person to ask that question to, Naruto. All I can tell you is to deal with it. I ran from my problems a long time ago," the blonde woman said as she drew the girl into a comforting embrace. Tsunade held the girl until she had calmed down and nearly fallen asleep.

"This feels nice," Naruto said as she was held close by someone for the first time she could recall.

Tsunade smiled a bit. "My obaa-chan Mito used to hold me like this when I was little. Now I could likely get in trouble for telling you this but Sensei pissed me off. Few people know this but my grandmother was an Uzumaki."

The girl looked up with shock and for the first time that Tsunade had seen hope. "We're family?" she whispered.

"Distant, but yes, we're family," Tsunade admitted. The blonde woman was rewarded with the most bone crushing hug she had ever felt. She realized she had just offered something very precious to a person who never had something like that in her life. Even her hardened heart was thawed enough to shed a few tears as the girl held onto her. Eventually the hug relaxed as the troubled girl fell asleep in her arms.

* * *

The blonde boy known as Uzumaki Naruto was upset by the fact that the smiling idiot was not only still alive but in a separate body altogether. He also had a slightly malicious glee that the idiot was a girl. He would have danced in happiness but that would seem to callus. For now anyhow, he would play the fool but slowly bring his behavior around to his own views.

It was funny that he still felt good at seeing the Old Man after a week. He had nothing against the aged leader but Naruto felt the Hokage could have done more during his life so far. He had avoided a lot of trouble due to the influence of Sarutobi so in the end it was a wash on his overall view. That still left the leader as his most favored person in the village. He mentally went down his list. The Ichiraku family was next on his favored list. Teuchi and Ayame had always been kind to him. He would consider them as friends; in spite of the fact a large part of their kindness was business related. Most of his former classmates were ninja now and the ones he was closer to were the ones most neutral towards him. A handful he would even classify as acquaintances but not quite friends. Then there was the matter of his little stalker. Hinata might be an issue to look into once he was settled down.

He knew his time as a prankster had helped his cunning but the idiot never used such things as a ninja. With a few small tweaks most of his pranks could be remade into ninja traps. He had a wide range of choices on what he could do now that his true self could be revealed.

He realized he was a lot smarter but not more knowledgeable. He only knew what Naruto knew but with a different perspective. In the past, Naruto was more inclined to look for more approval and less scorn so he hid his intelligence until it became second nature to do so. It effected how he thought but did not diminish the underlying intelligence. Only during a life or death battle did those mental 'blinders' get removed and the blonde functioned to his capacity. It made him seem dim most often with true brilliance in a fight. He would allow most people who were aware of Naruto to see what they wanted to see for the time being.

The others, however, would get a different view. Naruto decided that he would no longer be the bottom rung and beat up boy for his team. He was better than that and his ever so kind teammates would find that out soon enough. Team 7 was in for a rude awakening before he turned his sights on the civilians. Nothing bad enough to get him in trouble with authorities but a more subtle revenge was in order.

* * *

Sarutobi sat in another meeting with the two Narutos. He really needed to get this taken care of so he could attend to other village matters. It disturbed him that the boy seemed completely normal and the girl was still a mess. He couldn't imagine what she might be going through but he would keep trying his best for her.

"Have you decided on a name yet?" Sarutobi asked the girl Naruto.

She just shook her head no and Sarutobi continued. "You need to pick one soon so I can get your records created and updated. The official story I will give is that Tsunade brought you back to the village with her."

"I assume both of you wish to continue being ninja for Konoha?" he asked once.

Both tweens nodded their desire to be ninja.

"I plan on allowing you both to leave this facility tomorrow but there are a few additional issues that need to be settled first. The first one is living arrangements," the leader said.

"She will be staying with me and Shizune if my apprentice ever gets back here," Tsunade said in a tone that would allow no argument. "She still needs to learn a number of things that girls must know before she even thinks about being on her own."

Sarutobi nodded. "So the boy gets the current living space. I had assumed that would happen anyhow. People expect Uzumaki Naruto to live there and someone new suddenly moving in while Naruto moving to a new place would arouse suspicion and start people asking questions. We want as few people as possible to know about this split."

The girl spoke up. "What about all my things?" she asked.

"My things," the boy retorted.

The pair were about to being a shouting match when Sarutobi slapped his hand onto the table.

"Everything will be split evenly between you. The apartment, furnishings and wardrobe will go to the boy since if fits him. The Hokage's office will buy a reasonable amount of clothing and household goods for the girl. Supplies will be split evenly between the two of you. Items of personal and sentimental value will be divided between you both on an alternating choice basis. The girl picks first since she has lost enough in this situation."

Both Narutos pouted at this but gave in to the Hokage's word. It was about as fair a deal as either one could have come up with.

During the night, an ANBU and Tsunade accompanied the pair to Naruto's apartment so the separation of their lives could start. Within an hour, it was done. The girl left the apartment with a small box of items. The most notable items in it were Iruka's headband, Gama-chan, the plants and a few other items that neither one would give up claim to until the choosing The boy kept the goggles, a gift from Inari and everything else in the apartment. The ninja supplies were mainly left behind at Tsunade's urging as she said she would buy the girl new ones.

Dawn arrived with the boy waking up in his apartment and the girl in the Senju estate with Tsunade.

* * *

Dawn also found a dark haired woman holding a pig standing before the gates of Konoha waiting to be allowed entrance. The time Shizune had taken to return to the village of her birth had been well spent. She had visited or arranged payment for nearly all of Tsunade's debts along the way. The few remaining had refused to have a third party pay off the debts and had insisted that the Sannin herself pay them in person.

Shizune was intelligent enough to realize those particular people were less interested in the funds than they were in making her teacher grovel for having eluded them for so long. The dark haired woman simply left the money owed in the care of a friend of Tsunade's from the Tea Country and informed the debtors that their money was on deposit and waiting for them. She made it known to all the people she had paid off that she tried paying the money to the ones who would not accept it. Whether the debtors collected it from the proxy holding it was another matter.

All in all, Shizune was pleased with her efforts since the slugs had snatched Tsunade back to Konoha. She rewarded herself to a nice new kimono and Tonton got a new vest to wear. Some money still remained for the Sannin to enjoy so Shizune felt it was a fair exchange.

She introduced herself to the gate guards, Izumo and Kotetsu, as returning from a long term mission and showed her I.D. After a brief wait she was admitted and asked to report to the Hokage.

Shizune carried Tonton as she made her way through the village toward the Tower and Mountain behind it. While looking at things she noticed differences in Konoha. Businesses lining her path had changed and a rare few were run by people she recognized. Her last time in the village had been many years ago; before the Kyuubi had made its appearance.

Once at the Tower, Shizune was hustled in to see the Sandaime.

"Welcome home, Shizune," Sarutobi said with a smile.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," she replied politely.

"So you know, I am very proud of the way you have watched out for Tsunade the past decade. I know you were her apprentice but you also were her friend and at times, protector. I have decided to give you something as a reward for your efforts," the leader said. He held out a bank voucher that Shizune meekly took before she looked at it. She could barely keep her jaw from dropping at a voucher for fourteen years of back pay.

"I would not let Tsunade know you have that, Shizune," Sarutobi said with a twinkle in his eye as he lit his pipe to give the medic a chance to compose herself.

"Agreed, Hokage-sama," Shizune managed to choke out after calming her nerves.

"I would appreciate a report on places and people you encountered during your travels within the next month, Shizune. But for now, Tsunade is impatiently awaiting your arrival. She is at the Senju estate with a guest as of last night. You can meet her there."

Shizune thanked the Sandaime and bowed before heading out.

The woman knew the way and quickly arrived to hear shouting as she let herself into the main building.

"I don't care if it's uncomfortable. You are going to wear some kind of support for your chest if you want to get any kind of training from me!" echoed from somewhere in the manor. Shizune wondered if it was too late to turn around and head back to the Tea Country.

* * *

Next Chapter: Introductions.

**

* * *

**

Review Notes:

First, this is not a romance. There will be no hooking up between girl Naruto and anyone male. Not her 'brother' and most definitely _not_ Sasuke. Dismiss any fantasies you might have in that regard.

Girl Naruto lost all the genetic material of the Yondaime when the Y chromosome was destroyed so all the factors that the Yondaime contributed to her appearance have been eliminated. She is going to look pretty much like Kushina eventually.

On the point of my pledge never to make a character be the sex other than it was written in canon. Hmm, [Waffles a bit before grabbing the blonde boy in the story and holding him up.] Look! He is still fine and dandy! Pledge twisted a lot but still intact.

**Some minor clarifying facts:**

The girl is the original body and has the seal and the power of the Kyuubi locked behind the seal. The boy is the new body created by the forbidden jutsu used by the essence of the Yondaime in the seal to prevent the freed Kyuubi from possessing the body of his son, now 'daughter'. The Yondaime piece basically forced the 'soul' of the Nine Tails out of Naruto into the flesh clone.

The Kyuubi spoiled the plan by splitting Naruto's persona in two taking the supressed Dark or Yami piece you all too briefly saw in recent manga chapters. This gave it some cover as it would have failed to know what Naruto would in the event of an interrogation and been killed out of hand. At the current time, the Kyuubi has as much effect and power as a ghost or Sakura's 'Inner'.

Both boy and girl are Naruto. They have all of his memories but different personality elements are primary in each and will effect each differently from here on out.

**Authors Notes:**

I am uncertain of what to actually call the girl Naruto. I am heavily favoring calling her 'Naruko' as so many others have for a female version. If someone gets me a better idea for a name, I will consider it.

My other stories are still progressing, even 'The Runaway Hokage' believe it or not. The past month has been quite hectic as my work relocated to a smaller space and I spent most of November packing, sorting and throwing out years of files. The only time I was not collapsing to sleep shortly after work was on weekends and with a teenage daughter active in high school activities that chewed up that time. Even managing to create 10,000 words spread among four stories was a feat. Half of those words are in this posting. Enjoy.

**Edit on 12/14/10**: Clarified the damage to the girl Naruto's genetic structure. All of his father's genes from each of the 23 chromosome pairs was deleted by the Kyuubi when it was forced out, not simply the Y chromosome that determines gender. I had left that detail vague in the original.


	3. Introductions

**Introductions**

Shizune eventually found the source of the shouts in the Senju household. She looked into a small bedroom to find Tsunade glaring at a girl about twelve to thirteen years old. The girl was glaring back just as hard at her sensei. Shizune found it funny and wished she had a camera or something handy to record the moment.

"Tsunade-sama?" Shizune said hesitantly.

The sound of Shizune's voice startled both of the arguing pair and they both got into a defensive martial arts position. The dark haired apprentice could see the girl's form was terrible and completely unsuited to her build.

Tsunade recovered quickly and hid a smile before composing herself and frowning.

"Shizune, what took you so long to get back here? It has been two weeks and the Tea Country is only a few days travel from here," the blonde woman said with an edge of relief she could not quite hide.

Shizune smiled at how badly her sensei was hiding her feelings.

"I had to make a few stops along the way, Tsunade-sama. I took advantage of being left holding your winnings and took care of a few outstanding items," the apprentice said with a smile as she pulled out the receipts for the Tsunade's paid off debts.

Tsunade looked shocked at the stack of receipts and flipped through the pile noticing all said 'Paid in Full'. She looked up in gratitude at her thoughtful student.

"Thank you, Shizune. I think I would be lost without you beside me," she said in a quiet voice.

Shizune smiled at the praise but knew that it would not be spoken of in public again. Tsunade was ill-mannered at times but she always meant well and was uncomfortable expressing her true feelings. Looking for a distraction, Shizune noticed the girl still standing there.

"And who is this young lady, Tsunade-sama?" the younger woman asked politely.

Tsunade glared at the girl and smirked.

"This young lady is the reason I got dragged back here to Konoha. Until just before I was pulled here, this girl used to be Uzumaki Naruto," Tsunade said.

"Still am," the girl grumbled under her breath.

Shizune frowned for a moment as she recalled the name but before she could speak, Tsunade cut her off.

"It seems Orochimaru used some kind of jutsu on the boy to split him into two separate being, a boy who is still going by the original name and this young lady who refuses to choose a new one."

"I'm still Naruto no matter what. No pretender is taking my life away from me," grumbled the girl.

"She also will not wear the proper gear for training," the blonde woman continued to prevent any comment Shizune might have on the subject of Naruto's heritage. Tsunade held up a sports bra top that most kunoichi wore to support their breasts and keep them from bouncing too much.

"I never needed anything like that before!" the girl shouted out. "I won't wear it!"

Shizune now noticed the girl had been wearing just a t-shirt and a thin one at that. It was quite obvious that the girl needed to wear _something_ under her shirt. While still modest in endowment, the girl needed support if she was going to run and fight.

"Is she going to be a fighter or a seduction specialist?" Shizune said with a gleam in her eye that Tsunade picked up on.

"Seduction?" the girl said confused.

"Ooo that could be an idea, Shizune. So, gaki, would you like to become a seduction specialist? You could go without support and have all the guys ogle your goodies and want to have sex with you," Tsunade said with an evil look in her eye. The girl paled as she finally caught what the older ninja were implying. The pale was followed by a blush and the girl yelling back.

"No way am I EVER going to have a guy do that to me! I'm not gay!" she screamed in a voice that cracked and became shrill as she finished.

Tsunade tossed the girl the top and commented. "If you wear it, you will get less attention from boys than if you don't wear it."

The girl caught the top and grumbled 'fine' under her breath as she retreated to a side room to put it on.

Tsunade looked to her apprentice and briefly informed her of the situation and events surrounding the split of the Narutos.

"Does this mean we will be staying in Konoha, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked trying to keep her voice from sounding excited.

"For now, Shizune. For now," Tsunade said not meeting the younger woman's eyes.

Shizune could see the pain of bad memories had flared up in her sensei's look and decided to leave that point alone. It was a sore point for Tsunade and Shizune knew not to poke at it.

The girl returned by then having struggled a bit trying to get comfortable in the confines of her new attire. Shizune was glad to see the girl was wearing the sports bra correctly and had put the t-shirt back on over it. She was tugging at it and wiggling trying to get used to the feel of the top.

"This thing pinches and squeezes me," the girl complained.

Tsunade snorted. "Amateur. You want to know troublesome? Try getting these into a full military armor," she grumbled as she pointed her thumb at her own endowment. Shizune giggled as the girl blushed once more but from embarrassment.

"You mentioned her needing a name, Tsunade-sama. Surely an appropriate one has come to mind," Shizune said as a change of subject.

"She refused to pick something. I have suggested dozen of names but she will not budge. She wants to keep Naruto," the Sannin replied.

"It is _my_ name. He's the copy. He shouldn't get it," the girl growled once more.

"The boy says the same thing about you," Tsunade said to the girl.

The girl lifted her shirt to expose her slender belly and focused chakra. The black lines of the seal on her stomach came into view. "I know I'm the real Naruto because I still have THIS!" she said before turning and running out.

* * *

The blonde boy woke and stretched and looked around. Naruto's life was certainly going to be going through a few changes now that he was in charge.

'Correction, _my_ life will be going through some changes,' the boy thought as he smiled.

Naruto scanned the apartment and noted the items the girl had taken with her. He had grudgingly agreed to the Hokage's plan but he didn't like it. The girl was going to be a pain but he could deal with it. He had the important things; his identity being the main one. Now, he would make them his in fact as well as name.

'First order of business, this place needs to be better,' he thought as he reached for trash bags. He knew that in the past, 'he' had not been the cleanest person but now that was going to change. All the things he had to do to get attention were going to be different now. No more pranks. No more grins. No more putting up with crap in order to get people to accept him. 'I am Uzumaki Naruto. These people do not have to like me. But before I am through, they _will_ respect me.'

He smirked as he tossed the full trash bags into the dumpster behind the apartment building. The apartment had not been that clean in months. His wardrobe and food situations were next. The hideous 'look at me' orange outfits would have to suffice for now until he could buy better. Ramen was good but he was getting tired of it day after day. The idiot had not wanted to stand up to the merchants who disliked him in the past. Naruto decided the first bout of revenge was going to happen at the grocery store.

Dressed in black shorts and a white shirt with the symbol of Konoha on it, Naruto set out with his spare wallet and a purpose. He decided the vegetable vendor would be first today. He did not mind the taste of them in ramen and he knew it would get Kakashi off his back if he ate a more balanced diet. The man he had in mind would never sell to him in the past and had told him never to come to his stand.

The blonde looked over the selection from a distance to add up what the price should be when he was going to buy things. The timing of this was going to be tricky. He needed a good patsy to make this work. He spotted the perfect person in the form of a matron of the Akimichi clan. The old woman was browsing toward the vegetable vendor. Naruto hurried to get into line just before her. He gave the matron a pleasant 'Good morning' and a smile. The Akimichi had always been fair to him in the past and Choji had made the finals of the Chunin Exam. Perfect.

"I heard that Choji made it to the finals of the Exam, Akimichi-san. Your clan must be proud of him. I was a classmate of his," Naruto said in a respectful tone.

The woman looked Naruto over as if trying to place him. The boy's shock of blonde hair and whisker like marks on his face were the key to her realizing who he was.

"Ah, yes. You must be that Uzumaki Naruto boy that Choji spoke of a few times. Not getting into mischief any longer, are you?" she said with a smile. 'The boy is much more polite than Choji had made him out to be,' she thought.

"No, Akimichi-san. I am a genin now and have put all that behind me. I just got out of the hospital after getting hurt in the Chunin Exam and I thought some nice vegetables would help me regain my strength. Could you suggest any that might help me?" Naruto said still being respectful.

The old woman smiled. She loved talking about food and the benefits of certain kinds of vegetables. She began to talk about ones that would aid in his recovering strength quickly and Naruto listened attentively; occasionally nodding and smiling at the old woman.

When it was Naruto's turn with the vendor, the man looked at him coldly.

"What are you planning, Uzumaki?" the man said in a clipped tone.

"I was planning on buying some of your vegetables today," Naruto replied. He pulled out his money and tried to order when the man cut him off.

"Your money and business are not welcome at my stand, boy," he almost snarled.

Naruto put on a lost face and looked hurt. "I've never done anything to wrong you Sir. I have been a new person since I became a genin and I put my pranking past behind me. I have not done a single prank on anyone since I made genin. I just wanted to get some vegetables today with the money I earned defending the village."

"I said your money and business are not welcome at my stand, boy," the vendor repeated.

Naruto looked crestfallen and turned to leave; making sure the Akimichi matron saw his sadness. "I just wanted to buy some vegetables."

The old lady saw the look and she got angry. "Why are you being so mean to Naruto-kun?" she snapped at the vendor. "He was going to spend his money at your stand. He just got out of the hospital and even asked my advice on what would help him get better and get back to making sure our village and _you_ are safe."

The old woman stepped up to the vendor and began to poke him in the chest as she continued.

"He was polite and waited in line like everyone else. He wanted to spend his money and you turn him away like he tried to steal from you."

The vendor blubbered and tried to speak but the matron cut him off.

"Are you going to accuse me and not help me next? Well, I am not going to give you a chance. I am going to the stand on the next street over and buy his vegetables. See if I come back here again. Come, Naruto-kun, I know that other vendor well. He is a bit more expensive but he is fair to everyone," the woman finished and practically dragged Naruto after her.

Many onlookers had seen and overheard the entire things. Many had expected some kind of prank from Naruto but this was something new. No one had really thought about it, but his pranks _did_ stop after he had become a genin. There were many who knew his secret and disliked him or ignored him for it. But a few others in line stepped out and glared at the vendor before following off after the Akimichi matron as well.

As Naruto went home with a nice sized bag of assorted vegetables, he grinned inside. The rising temperature meant the heat of the day was coming and the vendor still had a good sized pile of his stock left. The remaining produce would wither under the heat of the sun soon and the man would be forced to sell it at a loss to recover anything. By hurting the man's business like that, Naruto had hurt that vendor more than the man had ever hurt him. The best part of it was that he had done nothing illegal. In a couple of weeks he would go back and try to buy there again. If the man still refused to treat him fairly, then he would have to do something else legally to hurt his business.

Life was good.

* * *

'Life sucks,' the girl thought.

Once she had calmed down from her snit that morning, Shizune came over to meet her. She found the girl hiding in the bathroom of all places. The dark haired apprentice looked over the near teen girl and frowned. The girl needed a lot more than the single outfit she wore after getting out from the hospital. The girl's hair was short, blonde with quarter inch long red roots and appeared to have been cut unevenly with a dull knife giving it a spiky look.

After her initial impression on the girl's appearance was finished, Shizune introduced herself.

"Hello, um, Naruto I guess. I'm Shizune, Tsunade-sama's apprentice, medical ninja and jonin of Konoha. She said she would take care of you but I think she is going to need some help. I have been her apprentice and looking after her for more than your lifetime. I would like to be your friend as well," she said to the quiet girl.

"You know what's inside of me, don't you?" the girl asked.

"Yes, I do, Naru-chan. It was something inflicted upon you and not your fault. You are a victim, not the cause."

"Why can't the villagers see that then?" the girl said.

"I don't know, but you have been given something you cannot get again in your lifetime. You get to start over," Shizune said with a smile.

The girl looked up confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the villagers dislike Naruto, correct? Describe what he looks like to me please."

"Um, he is a boy, same age as me. He has blonde hair, blue eyes and about the same height," the girl began before Shizune stopped her.

"You do realize that you are none of those things. I see a girl with purple eyes and red hair growing in making her once blonde hair look like it had come out of a bottle," Shizune said as she picked at the points of the girl's badly cut hair. "The villagers know Naruto. However, they don't know a thing about the girl I see. With a little work on your part, they would never see you are Naruto."

"But I _am_ Naruto," the girl muttered.

"I understand that. But if they see a blonde boy who looks just like Naruto standing next to a girl who looks similar but not the same. She has different hair and eyes. Who would they think really is Naruto?"

"Him," the girl whispered morosely as tears threatened again.

After a pause the girl spoke up.

"Why am I crying so much these past couple of weeks? I never used to cry like this," she said rubbing her eyes.

"Part of being a girl, Naru-chan. All the hormones," Shizune said trying to stop a giggle.

"Don't call me Naru-chan, I'm not a baby," the girl complained.

Shizune chuckled now. "Well, I have to call you _something_. Besides, girls call each other 'chan' all the time. Something else you need to get used to."

The girl just nodded. "It seems like I have to get used to a lot of stuff I don't like. But it's not like I haven't before," she said with resignation.

Shizune smiled. "Well, since you are in such an accepting mood, why don't I take you shopping for the things you are going to need? Tsunade-sama is horrible at it and I bet she got you that outfit you're wearing right now. Shopping, weapons, and a couple of other stops."

A sigh followed by a nod followed Shizune's suggestion.

The girl formerly known as Uzumaki Naruto was practically dragged out of the Senju estate behind an excited Shizune.

* * *

Kakashi got to his team's meeting place only an hour late today. He was greeted with silence as Sasuke brooded and Sakura braided grass in silence. This was a different reaction than the team had before the Chunin Exam. Before, Sakura would have been pestering Sasuke. Now, Sakura was past thinking his silent brooding was cool. When she was locked in the same room with him for several days, the experience made her realize there was not much more to the boy. It finally dawned on her that he felt she was not worth his time and interrupted his training.

'If he wanted to be nice he would have been. All he wants to do is train and get stronger. He has nothing else in his life that he cares about and wants it that way. Fine, he can be alone,' she finally admitted to herself.

"Good morning Sakura, Sasuke. I hope you will be glad to find out that Naruto is better and should be returning to the team in another few days. I hope neither of you are holding a grudge over his getting hurt in the Exams but it was an s class missing ninja after Sasuke," Kakashi said with his single visible eye crinkling in a smile.

Sakura was surprised at the news. Sasuke just made a dismissive noise and said, "Are we going to do any training now?"

Kakashi shook his head. "An overnight D-ranked mission for us; we are escorting a noble to the village from his estate to Konoha for the Chunin Exam finals in two weeks. We meet him at the trade town first thing tomorrow morning and bring him to Konoha. Go prepare for overnight and be at the gate in two hours."

* * *

The blonde boy placed his bags of groceries onto his table and looked around the room. Various scrolls had been piled on the bed and table when he had cleaned up that morning. Most of the books and scrolls he kept had been from Academy classes he had blown off when the grinning idiot had been in charge. He had a vague idea of what many held as most had been skimmed over at best. A few jutsu scrolls were mixed into the piles and he would need to organize everything.

'First lunch and then I go over things,' he thought.

Naruto pulled out his rarely used pots and bowls and began preparing a basic stir fry with some of his purchases. A leaf pulled from the vegetables reminded him of the chakra control exercise Iruka had made him do with Choji, Kiba and Shikamaru. Then, Naruto had moaned about how he hated doing those things. Now, he was not the same person anymore. He lifted the leaf to his forehead and focused chakra to hold it there as he continued to prepare lunch.

After eating the most nutritious meal he had ever cooked for himself, Naruto pulled out one of the math textbooks from the Academy. The question he remembered from the first test in the Chunin Exam needed some high level math to solve. He should go back over that and see if he could even figure it out with the book's help.

In the back of his mind, a presence growled its approval.

* * *

The girl who had once been Naruto sat still as the sharp shiny object drew closer to her head. The sound of metal sliding over metal made her flinch but she remained still. Shizune had given her such a pout when the girl had tried to bolt from the shop the first time the beautician approached with the scissors.

"I'm not going to cut a lot. I am just going to even it out a little bit," the woman said with a smile once the girl had calmed down.

"Relax Naru-chan," Shizune said at the girl tensed at each sound the scissors made.

The woman with the scissors looked to Shizune. "What happened to her hair? Did a mission go wrong or something?"

"More like an 'or something'," Shizune said in a hesitant voice. "We just got back into town from a long term trip and there was an accident on the way."

The beautician nodded knowingly. She dealt with kunoichi daily and fixed many bad 'accidents' in her time. The blonde would have to be re-colored to match the roots but that was a simple task. The young woman in her chair was acting like she had never had her hair done before. The hair itself looked like it had been cut by someone with a kunai and it was badly uneven.

But a few minutes wielding the scissors fixed most of the uneven hair and the woman moved to the dying stage. The girl was trying to get out of the chair again until Shizune tapped her forehead while muttering a jutsu and the girl couldn't move anymore.

"It's for your own good, Naru-chan. The blonde has to go and match the red that is coming in. I'll release the jutsu when she is done."

The girl whimpered but the beautician worked efficiently and was done quickly. Shizune pulled her to one side and spoke to the woman and received a nod before returning. The motionless girl could do nothing to stop the beautician as the woman applied cosmetics and other tortures.

At last, she was done and the beautician stepped back to allow Shizune to see. The dark haired woman nodded in approval and smiled.

"Can we have a few minutes?" Shizune asked the beautician.

The hair stylist nodded and went to help someone else.

"Naru-chan, I am going to release the jutsu I put on you now. Before you get up and panic, I want to you do something for me. Just take a minute to look at what you see in the mirror before you try to undo anything. Can you promise that?" Shizune asked.

The girl nodded with the limited movement she had of her head before the medic released her paralysis jutsu. Shizune stood between the girl and the mirror before stepping to the side. The image that appeared in the mirror was a stranger to the girl but she was struck by what she looked like.

Ever since being changed into a girl, Naruto had avoided even looking into a reflective surface. Now, she was faced with what she felt would be something hideous and ugly.

The once blonde hair was in a pixie cut and colored to match the roots to shine a rich red in the lights. The makeup that she had been imagined as caked on had only the barest of appearance as it was designed to enhance what was there. It was not trying to make her look older or younger.

The overall look was one even Naruto would call as cute. This stranger in the mirror was nothing like she had imagined it would be. She watched as the image lifted her hands to lightly touch her face as the girl did.

"You look very pretty, Naru-chan," Shizune whispered in her ear. "It is nothing like what you expected is it?"

The girl only shook her head and watched the image in the mirror do the same.

"Have you decided on a name yet, Naru-chan?" the medic asked and once more got a shake of the head in reply.

"Can I suggest one for you? It is close to your old name with only a slight difference. It also fits the person you can see there, a growing beauty. Plus I get to keep calling you Naru-chan," Shizune finished with a smile.

The girl who had spent her entire life as Naruto whispered out the name Shizune suggested quietly to herself.

* * *

The day after the escort mission, two thirds of Team 7 was waiting by their normal meeting place at the bridge. Sasuke was in his silent mode and Sakura continued braiding grass. She had made a grass whip several feet long since the Chunin Exams. It kept her mind off the boy standing nearby while she waited. They just waited as always but something in the air felt different today.

"Kaka-sensei said Naruto would be back with us today but no sign of him yet. You think he is going to make it, Sasuke?" Sakura asked to break the quiet.

"Hn, he is likely staying away," Sasuke grumbled. "Not like we really need him anyway. He got in my way during the Exams and made us fail."

Sakura was tired of the same line. "Sasuke, he saved your butt in there. If that hit he took had gone to you, I doubt you would be coming back so quickly. That chakra …" Sakura stopped and shuddered and remembered she was not supposed to talk about it.

'That chakra felt so strange,' she continued in her head. 'It was both comforting and scary at the same time. At least the blue part _felt_ comforting. That red chakra popped up in the Wave country as well. That stuff felt like I would die if I get too close to it. Ugh, I really need to tell anyone about this. Maybe I should take up that Ibiki guy on his offer to talk to him.'

Sakura was pulled from her thoughts by the arrival of Kakashi.

"Well, glad to see you back Naruto," Kakashi said to the amazement of Sasuke and Sakura.

Neither one saw the blonde boy anywhere. Sakura followed Kakashi's line of sight to a nearby tree to see Naruto looking the same as always in a tree. That is where the sameness ended. The blonde boy was sitting cross legged on the bottom of a branch with a leaf plastered to his forehead. It was a display of chakra control that Naruto had never accomplished in front of them before.

Sakura actually smiled when she saw the boy was all right after his ordeal in the Forest.

"Hi there," Naruto said. "I was wondering when you two would notice me. Your awareness sucks."

That remark had Sakura flinch slightly but she held back. 'He just got out of the hospital,' she reminded herself.

"I means I was sitting there for a half hour and neither one of you even had a clue," Naruto laughed as he said that.

Sakura's eyebrow twitched and she got angry.

"I thought I was the dobe of the team but even I notice when my teammates are nearby," the blonde said with a grin as Sakura finally lost her temper.

"NARUTO!" she yelled as she charged her teammate ready to pummel him. Her charge quickly became something else when Naruto merely stepped to the side and made her attack miss. Sakura fell to the ground and had a face full of dirt when Naruto looked back at her.

"Sakura, I am not going to let you do that any longer," he said in a cold voice that was completely unlike the boy they knew. "Your days of just hitting me like your own personal punching bag are _over_."

Sasuke actually smiled slightly at that. 'This might be interesting,' he thought.

* * *

A few hours later, Sarutobi was meeting with Jiraiya when they were interrupted by Tsunade and Shizune with the red headed girl in tow.

"Sensei, with much fuss and bother involved I can now present to you your newest genin. Please meet Uzumaki Narumi, twin sister to Uzumaki Naruto and the girl I returned to Konoha after raising her in secret to protect her from all enemies foreign and domestic," Tsunade said with a smirk.

Sarutobi was shocked to see Naruto, now Narumi. The girl was wearing maroon Capri length cargo pants, and a belted gray tunic that came mid-thigh. Black high top ninja sandals were on her feet. A kunai pouch peeked out from under the tunic along her right thigh and a smaller one down on her left calf for a single blade. The tunic was a turtleneck loose enough to hide most of her chest development as well as her hips and buttocks from view. A medic style equipment bag hung behind her back to further hide the still somewhat shy girl's posterior from view. The forehead protector was tied in its proper place and had a maroon band holding the plate.

The aged leader stroked his slight beard, "Narumi. That does indeed fit her. I'll get the paperwork finished off quickly. You made a splendid choice for a name, Narumi."

Narumi blushed slightly and replied, "Shizune suggested it."

Sarutobi nodded and puffed once on his pipe. "Now, what team should I assign you to?"

"None just yet, Sensei," Tsunade cut in. "She will need about another month of down time before she is ready to go out on any missions. There are still some things she needs to learn about herself and being a girl before going back on active duty."

"Very well, I'll defer to your judgment, Tsunade," the Hokage replied. "Narumi, you will report in one month for team assignment. Until then you are considered off duty and under the instruction of Tsunade. However, I do hope you won't be a stranger and come visit when you can."

"I'll try, Old Man. Thanks," Narumi said smiling for the first time since entering the office.

* * *

Next Chapter: Growing Pains

* * *

**End Notes:**

After reading the suggestions and looking through a half dozen baby name sites I decided on the name Narumi. It is close enough to satisfy the criteria I wanted and still be an actual name. I wanted something similar to 'Naruto' and have an appropriate meaning relating to the character.

Narumi – Japanese girl's name meaning 'growing beauty'

Pronounced (NAH-roo-me) emphasis on the first two letter sound.

Thank you to everyone who suggested names and many were good but not quite what I had in mind.

**Review Notes:**

I have a basic understanding of how genetics work. For story purposes, we are going with the idea that most of the factors that gave Naruto / Narumi the blonde blue eyed appearance were on the deleted Y chromosome. My intention is to have her not look like a sexy jutsu version of Naruto.

**Author notes:**

A small issue developed with the flash drive containing my stories. It decided to take a prolonged visit as my sister's house after Thanksgiving weekend. I should have it back soon but as nearly all of my writing is on it, it is delaying anything else being posted. Updates in progress for three other stories are delayed.

Posted 12/11/10


	4. Growing Pains

A freak accident during the 5 point seal of Orochimaru had an unexpected result. Instead of one Naruto there are now two; one male and one female. The girl was forced to change her name to Narumi. The boy remained as Naruto but something is off about him

**Growing Pains**

Narumi growled to herself as she dodged rubber balls thrown at her at speeds comparable to kunai. She had received welts all over her body but those faded quickly. The person delivering the punishment had a huge grin on her face. Tsunade was thoroughly enjoying herself.

After getting pummeled for an hour, Narumi was allowed a break before Shizune took over to give her some further training.

"Kakashi never had me train like this," Narumi complained.

"That would explain your horrendous chakra control and taijutsu," Shizune said in a grumpy voice before sighing. "Well, I guess it could be a blessing that your taijutsu is so bad. You do need a style that fits your body now."

"What's wrong with my style?" Narumi said with a frown and pout.

Shizune shook her head at how oblivious this girl was. How did she even survive as a boy was beyond her. "Get into your basic stance please, Narumi. Hold it for thirty seconds," Shizune said after rubbing the bridge of her nose.

The red headed girl got into a basic stance that might have worked for a boy if he had been a master level taijutsu specialist and double jointed. Shizune could see quite plainly the girl was already off balance and trying to stay steady.

The dark haired medic slowly walked around behind the younger girl and stopped. Without warning Shizune poked Narumi on the shoulder and the red head fell out of her stance and barely managed to remain on her feet.

"Hey!" Narumi cried out. "What did you do that for?"

"Naru-chan, a basic stance is just that, a base. It is the foundation for everything you will do with your taijutsu. You were off balance the entire time trying to hold that stance, weren't you?"

Narumi rubbed the back of her head and smiled slightly before replying, "Kind of."

"A basic stance should be balanced and comfortable for the person who is using it. If you are off balance than you need two moves before you can even block a simple punch. We need to find something new for you. Since most styles work from different basic stances, we will first find you a comfortable stance before moving to a style."

Shizune went through a series of adjustments with Narumi in a basic horse stance. After a number of small adjustments of footing and stepping in various directions, the pair found a stance that worked for the girl. Narumi was shocked at how different it was from her previous lessons on taijutsu. Shizune pressed Narumi for an explanation on why her taijutsu was so poor. Eventually, the red head caved in and told her sensei the truth.

Only the non clan students at the Academy received in school training for taijutsu. The instructor had dozens of students and would not spend a lot of time with any particular one. A good portion of the training time was simply follow along with the moves and little was done to correct the mistakes by any student. The man running it knew most would be rejected as genin and be assigned non combat roles in the village so he did not bother to correct any of it. If a jonin accepted any of the non clan students as ninja it would be up to them to train the genin properly.

Shizune growled even more in annoyance at what Narumi told her. She pulled out a notebook and wrote down the instructor's name. Doing that to one student was unforgivable but doing such poor teaching to an entire class was treasonous. How many potential ninja had been lost due to that instructor's careless teaching?

After taking a few deep breaths to calm down, Shizune went back to working on Narumi's taijutsu.

* * *

Naruto was not enjoying his morning. Team 7 had been assigned the mission of catching the demon cat, Tora. They had been in hot pursuit for nearly an hour now after spending nearly that much time tracking and stalking the beast. Naruto growled and pulled up to stop.

Moments later, both Sasuke and Sakura stopped and came back to the blonde.

"What are you stopping for?" screamed Sakura. "We were closing in on the darn cat."

"No we weren't Sakura. It was luring us in again. It is following the same path over and over. Didn't you notice that at all?" Naruto yelled back at the pink haired girl.

The fact became obvious after Naruto pointed out shocked the girl. Sasuke just nodded in agreement with Naruto this time.

"The water tower," Sasuke said.

"Yeah, the water tower," Naruto agreed. "It has done that three times already. It jinks around the tower and then runs through the market district to lose us. But it follows the same path each time it goes through the market. We need to be smarter than the cat. I have a plan."

Sakura huffed and made a dismissing noise at Naruto before he could even continue.

"I _was_ going to give you the easy part of the plan Sakura but now I'm not so sure," Naruto replied to the dismissal.

"What would you know about planning and capture of anything!" Sakura yelled in frustration.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at his teammate and glared.

"Sakura, you have a good mind. Use it before you keep looking like an idiot. Who was always getting chased by chunin after pulling a prank?" Naruto said in a cold voice

Sakura flinched and took a half step back before answering, "You."

"Me. How many times did I get caught by a chunin who was not Iruka-sensei? Not many. I know more about pursuit and escapes than anyone else on this team. I was going over all my training the past few days. I missed a lot of things in the past but I am seeing things a lot clearer now. Now a few more questions for you, Sakura."

"What happens after a genin team catches Tora?" he asked in a slightly warmer tone.

"I don't know," Sakura said.

"Okay, simpler then. What happened to us after the last time we captured Tora?" the blonde asked.

"We had the mission to the Wave country," Sakura replied not seeing where this was going.

"Right. What happened to Team 10 after they caught Tora? Ino should have told you at some point bragging."

"They went on a C-rank mission guarding a merchant caravan," Sakura replied as she began to get it.

"And Team 8. What did they do after capturing Tora?" Naruto asked.

"They had a C-rank escort mission to the border of Tea country," Sasuke replied.

Naruto nodded. "Next, can you catch a cat simply by running after it? Correction, can a _single_ person catch a cat simply by running after it?"

"No," said Sasuke with certainty.

"But a team working together can," said Sakura as she understood where Naruto was going with this.

"Yeah, they are testing teams with this stupid mission to see how well they work together to complete the mission. We go after it with no plan we get run into the ground and it stays free. If we make a plan we can catch the thing pretty easily," Naruto said glad he was not the grinning idiot and would use his brain instead of bluster.

"To catch it we know where it is going to be. It always runs past the water tower and jinks toward the market district. That is where we set an ambush for it," Naruto said with an evil gleam in his eye.

Shortly, Sakura waited holding a net and burlap sack hidden from view at the water tower as Naruto and Sasuke pursued the demonic feline.

Tora was grouchy. Normally genin gave up and let him have a nap long before this. As a nin-cat, his job to spy on the Daimyo's court was important but he had a side job to 'escape' every time his 'owner' came to shop in Konoha. He knew the best way to lose those annoyances and headed for his favorite trick. The water tower was in sight already as Tora sped up to full speed. It jumped and pushed off the pole next to the tower to change direction toward the market district. It knew it would be home free in a few moments when a net appeared in its path to snare it from mid-air. The net was quickly put into a sack by the pink furred annoyance.

Sakura held up the bag as Sasuke and Naruto rounded the tower.

The cat tried to shred the bag but found out that it couldn't while still tangled in the net. It shook and wiggled but to no avail.

"Shaaa! One cat in the bag!" she shouted out loud as for once she was not worried about holding back her feelings.

Sasuke smirked slightly as Naruto just turned and headed back toward the Tower for the mission completion.

"Well done team. I see you figured out the purpose behind assigning out a Tora capture," Kakashi said as he met the genin at the Tower.

"Yeah, it is another teamwork test," Naruto said. "One we could apply in a real capture mission."

"Very good Naruto," Kakashi said with his lone eye creasing as he smiled. "You are more perceptive since you got out of the hospital."

Naruto just shrugged and thought to himself, 'You don't know the half of it.'

As they passed the Academy area, they heard a cheer coming from the taijutsu practice field.

* * *

Narumi paused in her walk with Shizune when she heard the cheer from the Academy training field.

"I wonder what is going on there," she said as Shizune fought to hide a smug grin.

"We are almost at the Academy training hall. I have secured permission to use the thrown weapon target range for an hour," the medic said with a smile.

"Why there? Why not keep training at Tsunade's house?" Narumi asked.

"Several reasons. The main one is it is not really set up with a target range. The Senju were primarily a jutsu using clan. Weapons skills tended to be just average since using a jutsu instead of a thrown weapon was easier for them. The other main reason is to get you out of the house and into a more public setting, Narumi."

Shizune had been keeping an eye on the former boy the entire time they had been walking through the village. Narumi was extremely nervous and edgy being around people. The girl kept tugging at her clothing and looking around as if expecting to be called out as a fraud. A few Academy students were standing around outside the building as they approached. Shizune could tell they were fixated on Narumi and she fell back a step to let the red head deal with them.

One poked his friend, "Hey, look. Fresh meat and she is pretty good looking as well."

"Not too sure about that, she has a headband already," another boy mentioned.

"Well, she isn't from around here and that is enough for me. Kind of cute but she looks familiar somehow. Part of a clan maybe?" chimed in a third.

The largest boy there smiled and stood straight from where he had been leaning on the wall. He was a couple of inches taller than his cronies and a lot heavier. He stepped out into the path in front of Narumi.

"Hey pretty thing. I'm …" he started to say when Narumi and Shizune walked right past him.

"Hey! I was talking to you," the boy called after the females who simply entered the building.

"Completely ignoring them like that was mean, Narumi," Shizune said with a chuckle once they got into the training hall.

"They're mean, Shizune-nee. Three of them and me got into a fight a while back when they were picking on Hinata. I didn't win," the girl said with a quaver in her voice. "Since I am not supposed to react to people that I knew … before. I just treated them the way you and Tsunade-sensei told me to."

"But something is bothering you from that," Shizune observed.

"They were just _looking_ at me. But somehow I was feeling dirty from it. It's not like the hateful stares I got before. These were different. They looked almost hungry and I was dinner. I was getting nervous," the girl admitted.

"They were seeing a pretty girl and one tried to flirt with her. Some boys and a lot of men are like that Naru-chan. It is something we have to put up with as women. I am sure you stared at girls enough back then and you did create that jutsu of yours. I think you gave a number of girls a look like that in the past," the medic smiled slyly as she looked at Narumi.

The redhead just shook her head no quickly. "No I didn't. That jutsu was for overpowering perverts! I only looked at the magazines for how to make it look right!"

"Okay, Naru-chan, whatever you say. Now, time to work on your throwing weapons," Shizune said slipping into teacher mode.

* * *

Sakura waved goodbye to Sasuke without bothering him and noticed Naruto was off even faster than her former crush. Her nervous habit of late to braid grass came back as she took hold of a lock of her mid back length hair and began to braid it as she headed for the place Ibiki had said she would be able to contact him.

The building itself was non-descript but a secretary there asked her to wait after Sakura explained her reason for coming. It took a half hour but she shuddered as the imposing form of Morino Ibiki was standing in the doorway.

"You have something you wished to discuss, Haruno?" Ibiki said in his gravelly voice.

"Um, yes Sir. I need to talk about something but can't to anyone else. About my teammate, Naruto," the pink haired girl said in a quiet voice.

Ibiki nodded. "Come with me," he said.

The scarred man led the girl down a hallway to an airy room that looked more like a break room than anything else to her. The special jonin pulled a bottle of something out of a refrigerator and a glazed donut from a case and sat at a table.

"Feel free to have something, Haruno. We toss out more than we ever actually eat. It is okay to talk here. The entire building is secure," he said as he sat at a table and gestured to the seat on the other side.

"This doesn't feel like a headquarters," Sakura said as she got a bottle of water and Danish.

"It's not. This is just a place where people come to talk to us willingly. Now, you have some concerns about Uzumaki?"

"Yes Sir. I don't know the right way to say it but he is different somehow. I know that jutsu in the Forest did something to him. He just doesn't _feel_ like Naruto anymore."

Sakura pulled another lock of her long hair over her shoulder and started braiding it as she talked.

"I was thinking before about the red chakra that I saw. I had seen it before in the Wave country during the bridge fight. It felt so … wrong. The blue chakra felt nice but the red stuff just made me want to run and hide. Then in the Forest, whatever happened with that ball of chakra and seeing both … Wait, both! There were two people on the ground after that jutsu, weren't there?"

"I currently have no documentation on what happened in the Forest during the Exams," Ibiki said in a calm voice. "You were talking about how Uzumaki was different. Tell me about that."

"Well, he always used to be smiling all the time and bugging me for dates. The past few days since he got out of the hospital that has changed. I mean he looks the same and dresses the same but it's like he is cold to everyone now. When I went to hit him the other day …"

"You hit your teammate?" Ibiki broke in.

Sakura blushed and fiddled with the small braid of hair in her hand. "Sometimes, um, if he really pisses me off. When he says something stupid or won't leave me alone."

"I see. So you went to hit him?" Ibiki prodded.

"Um, yeah I went to hit him and he just stepped out of the way and gave me this look and told me he wasn't going to let me do that anymore."

"Have you tried to hit him again since that time?" Ibiki asked.

Sakura shook her head. "No, I've been too scared to try."

Ibiki nodded and tapped the table a few times with his finger.

"So you know; this is the very reason I asked you to come talk with me if anything is bothering you. The boy did go through a terrible ordeal. It can have long reaching implications if it affected his mind. Is there anything else different about him?"

Sakura had not considered the idea that Naruto acting different could be due to his experience.

"Well, on a mission to catch Tora today, he came up with a solid plan and it worked. He never takes the time to think things through like that before acting. I guess he could be doing that because he had gotten hurt," Sakura said slowly as if hesitant to talk about things. "But he insulted me too. He said I was missing some obvious things on what Tora was doing."

"A lot of genin underestimate Tora, Haruno. If you caught that cat this early in the day your team must have figured it out. But I need to get back to other duties so one thing I would like to ask. You took taijutsu at the Academy, didn't you?" the scarred man asked.

"Yes, I did. Why?" Sakura said in a slightly confused tone.

"How would you rate the teacher for it? There have been a few complaints and I wanted an extra opinion," Ibiki said in a steady voice.

"He sucked. I think I learned more from Ino than I did from that teacher," Sakura grumbled out.

Ibiki nodded and gestured Sakura toward the door. "If you need to talk again, come by and see me. I am glad you remembered the rules of secrecy on the Forest incident and came to see me to clear you mind."

Sakura left the building still confused about a lot of things. The fact that there were _two_ people on the ground after the jutsu stayed in her head this time. She paid little attention to where she was going. She just kept walking as her thoughts occupied her.

* * *

Ibiki returned to the main T&I office and called in an operative who acted as a secretary. "Personality changes have been reported in genin Uzumaki file Team 7-Orange, by his teammate. Keep the watchers alert for anything involving Uzumaki in the future. I want all interactions reported for review. I also want to see the Academy psych reports on genin Haruno, file Team 7-Pink.

* * *

Narumi was picking up her throwing weapons from the target and floor of the training hall.

'That could have gone better,' she thought as she pried kunai from the back wall. Barely half of her attempts had even struck the target post. The proportions in her body as Narumi were different than they had been as Naruto. Her breasts and hips might not be huge but the weight was enough to throw off her aim when she tried to use the same methods she had known. She needed to relearn how to throw and to not bump or bounce herself in the process. Shizune had shown her proper form and how to properly shift her weight as a girl to maximize the power in the throw. Now she had to learn accuracy.

After an hour, Shizune needed to head to the hospital to take care of some duties she had been acquiring as Tsunade's apprentice. Narumi had begged to stay behind and practice some more. After a short amount of convincing, the woman allowed the girl to stay behind.

Narumi got back into position to throw her blades. She concentrated and hurled three kunai at once. Two missed the post completely and the third stuck too low to hit the target. She was about to throw a second trio when a laugh sounded behind her. She spun to see the boys from earlier standing in the doorway to the training room.

"How did a girl like you earn a headband when you throw like that?" the large boy taunted.

Narumi recalled the beating she had suffered from these same boys as Naruto. Her eyes took in the boys in the doorway and she realized that was the only way out of the room. She re-holstered the kunai in her hand and walked to the post to pull out the knife there before bending to pick up the pair on the floor.

The boys remained in the door as she slid the weapons away and tried to leave. The largest boy stood in the middle while his two friends moved to either side of the redhead, bracketing her.

"So how did you manage to get a headband? I never saw you here in the Academy. You might even be a spy for another village, right guys?"

The other boys agreed with their leader.

"So where did you get it? Where are you from?" the smaller one asked.

"I just returned to the village after being away for a long time," Narumi said while managing not to stutter out her cover story. "I returned with Tsunade-sama. Let me pass."

"Can't. You need to pay the toll first. One kiss for each of us. Then maybe if you are a good kisser you can show us what you have under that baggy shirt," the large boy said with a leer.

Narumi tried to step back disgusted when the boys on either side of her took hold of her arms to keep her in place. The leader made a pucker and leaned in to kiss the girl when an explosion of pain ripped through his lower extremities. He paled and grabbed where Narumi had just kicked and fell to his knees.

The girl then leaned and threw one boy off her arm then the other one. After that she ran out of the Academy building trying not to cry and without even looking where she was going.

* * *

Sakura was still wandering after her talk with Ibiki. Without warning, she was run into by someone. She fell to the ground and was ready to pound the pervert that was on top of her when she looked into purple eyes that looked to be barely holding back tears. The feeling of breasts pressing up against hers let her know she had been run over by a girl

"Sakura-chan," she heard a voice whisper in fear as the girl scrambled off of her and attempt to run off.

The pink haired girl grabbed the ankle of the other girl and held on tightly.

"Let me go! Let me go! I didn't mean to run into you!" the other girl protested but Sakura held on and tugged the other girl to the ground. Sakura was getting to her feet and saw a redhead girl with a Konoha headband on crab crawling away until she had backed into a wall. The girl then covered her head with her arms and pulled her legs into her chest.

Sakura was shocked at the reaction by the other girl she never recalled even meeting. 'She is acting like I was going to hit her,' the pink haired girl thought.

"Hey, I think she ran this way," was shouted the next street over and Sakura turned to see three civilian bullies round the corner. The largest looked to be in some pain but his anger was also evident.

"There she is!" he growled as he looked past Sakura to the redhead. Before he could close in on the cowering girl, the bully heard the crackle of knuckles popping. The trio of boys looked to see Sakura with an evil look on her face.

"You Academy dropouts still like to gang up on girls? How about I make this fight a bit more even?" Sakura said with a slight chuckle.

The boys now realized the pink haired girl was someone they had encountered before and fled with memories of pain and a beat down they had received from her during the Academy days. One of them had been foolish enough to grope the girl the prior year. They had dropped back a year in the Academy after that.

Sakura chuckled at the dust the boys made in their retreat and turned to look at the cowering girl once more.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you," Sakura told the other girl and gently pulled the girl's arms away from her head. Her chuckle faded as she saw the obvious fear in the purple eyes.

"You okay? What was going on with those boys?" Sakura asked in a gentle voice.

"I was practicing with Shizune-nee and she had to leave so I convinced her to let me stay. Those .. those boys came in and wanted to kiss me and tou .. touch me and look at me. Two grabbed me and I kicked the big one and ran," the girl blubbered out.

Sakura frowned at that but was even more surprised at the girl's reaction. "You're a ninja if that headband means anything. Didn't your kunoichi classes teach you how to handle situations like that?"

"Never had any kind of kunoichi classes," the girl replied as she calmed down slightly.

'She looks familiar but I can't place where I have seen her before," Sakura thought.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Narut-mi," the redhead stammered out before clearing her throat and clearly saying, "Narumi."

Sakura looked closer at the girl in front of her. She had caught the fake cough and was now wary as she looked into the face of the other girl. The redhead blushed at the close inspection and on either cheek; a trio of barely noticeable white lines were highlighted.

Sakura took on a slightly hostile look. She knew a person with lines like that on his cheeks.

"Your entire name," Sakura said coldly.

"Uzumaki Narumi," the once more cowering girl said in a whisper.

Sakura growled as she looked over the redhead. Naruto usually used a much more busty transformation than this. The clothes were real. She could see the dirt on the 'girl's' face and the tears sliding down her face were wet when Sakura touched them.

_Sakura could only stand in awe as the multicolored sphere began to stretch out; first into an ovate shape then pulling in opposite directions. The red chakra swirled around one side and the blue charka around the other until two separate spheres of swirling chakra hung in midair. The light faded until two forms appeared within them only to fall to the ground below as the chakra faded._

The memory replayed and the pink haired girl whispered out, "Oh Kami. That jutsu. Two people fell out."

Sakura could tell she was on to something when a look of abject terror had appeared on Narumi's face.

"Genin, you will both accompany me to the Hokage's office immediately," sounded a voice from behind Sakura. She looked to see an ANBU with a cat mask standing behind them.

* * *

Naruto was strolling along whistling after cashing in his pay voucher. He decided that weapons would be his next target of opportunity. There were a few that had always dealt with him honestly so he felt now that he had enough money, he could get himself restocked. In the past he had always scavenged training fields but now he wanted to have first use weapons for himself. He would keep scavenging for training weapons and extra pocket money but missions deserved better. _He_ deserved better.

His thoughts were interrupted as he was going past one of the public bathhouses. A flash of white near a fence caught his eye so he stopped and backtracked until he saw it again. He also pretended not to see a flash of dark blue hair at the edge of a building a short distance behind him. Once he could see where the white was once more he frowned.

Someone was hiding near the fence by the woman's side of the baths. Naruto was many things but he did have more respect for women than that. He might have created a very perverted anti-pervert jutsu but his reasons were not for his enjoyment. His feelings were that he would look if the woman involved wanted him to of her own free will. This peeper had set himself in a good place to avoid capture. It would take someone with ninja skills to get across the scalding hot water coming out of the mineral baths

'This could be a good opportunity to test out that chakra control exercise I have tried a few times under harsher conditions,' he thought. Naruto made a ram hand seal focused his chakra to his feet. Then with the most stealth he could manage he stepped out on to the hot water and made his way across.

The white hair turned out to be a late middle aged man in some kind of red and green outfit and geta sandals. At a glance people would discount the man as a fool but even a dozen feet away Naruto could not get past the fact that no one else had spotted the man. The man was taking notes and let out an occasional giggle.

Even so, Naruto did not want an opportunity to pass him by. The man did not appear to have noticed him yet and with a slight grin Naruto knew the perfect way to treat this pervert.

Jiraiya was distracted by two girls in the hot springs. One had been rubbing the shoulders of the other and he forgot to check his surroundings.

"Sennen Goroshi!" sounded a loud cry behind him. This was followed by immense pain in his buttocks and a jolt of chakra flung him over the wall of the baths into the hot water. The various kunoichi and civilian women surrounded him with buckets, kunai and other implements of destruction. Jiraiya's last conscious thought for some time was 'Where _did_ they hide those kunai?'

In the meantime, Naruto had picked up the dropped notebook and continued on his way to the weapons shop. The normal girl that wore her hair in two buns was not there and the owner blacksmith was running the store today.

"Good morning, Naruto. Glad to see you again," the man called out.

"Good morning," Naruto replied with a slight smile.

"What can I interest you in today? I got some good re-forges on the kunai and shuriken that you normally buy. You can barely tell they had ever been used before."

"Truthfully, I came looking to buy new forged today," Naruto said with a smile. "I figured since I am doing C-rank missions already I should have the best weapons I can afford on them."

The shop owner nodded his agreement. He listened to what the blonde boy needed and quickly pulled the needed goods from the shelves. The final total was impressive but the man tallied it up and told Naruto the price. The blonde thought for a moment before replying.

"That seems kind of high doesn't it?" he said with a slight smile. "I am not sure I can really be certain I am getting the best value for my money."

"Naruto, you know perfectly well you are getting the price that the board says. That is the price I charge everyone who comes in here," the man said with a tone of certainty. He _never_ overcharged anyone.

"I will admit that you never overcharge me. But I am just not quite certain I am getting the best value for my money," Naruto said with a bigger grin.

The shopkeeper understood now and smiled. "Ah, so you want to haggle for the first time ever, huh boy?"

"Maybe," the boy replied drawing out the word to indicate he was

"Well, then lets get to haggling," the shop owner challenged.

In the end, the shopkeeper got the price he wanted. In return, Naruto would walk out with an extra half dozen shuriken, a new kunai holster and several dozen used senbon which he knew he had collected at some point last year but the shopkeeper had not managed to sell.

Both the ninja and the shopkeeper were smiling as they shook hands to seal the deal. Both had thoroughly enjoyed the half hour it had taken to finalize it.

After he left the weapon shop, Naruto turned a random corner instead of heading straight home. He ran up the side of the wall and across the roof to get behind his blue haired stalker. After he dropped behind Hinata without a sound, he snuck up close and whispered to her, "Did he get away from you Hinata-chan?"

Hinata froze at the sound of Naruto's voice. Her face immediately turned red and she began to hyperventilate.

"If you pass out Hinata-chan, who knows what kind of nasty lecherous things might happen to you here in this alley?" he said with a chuckle.

Hinata actually gasped as that as those kind of thoughts danced into her head.

"Naruto-kun touching me," Hinata gasped out as her imagination took flight along with her consciousness.

Naruto caught the Hyuuga heiress and carried her into the weapons shop for safety. Playing ignorant to the shop owner, he left her there to recover from her fainting spell. Hinata never noticed the small notebook full of rough draft porn in her pocket until she was getting ready for bed that night. The notebook was never seen public again. The Hyuuga did notice Hinata being eager to get into her room each night but no one said anything about it.

* * *

Next Chapter: Secrets Revealed

* * *

**End Notes:  
**Slow progress in the month between the Exams and Finals. I will have the header on top of each chapter now so readers will remember that both Naruto and Narumi are 'Naruto'

Sakura is smarter than the average kunoichi. She figured something out. For good or bad remains to be seen.

Hinata is a naughty girl in this one, deal with it.

**Review Notes:  
**I went back and fixed the problem with genetics. I had the Kyuubi destroy most of Minato's DNA in Narumi's body.

Yes, Dark Naruto is a vindictive little snot. But he is smart enough to know that if he gets himself in trouble, he will not be able to get his revenge. He is being subtle but each chapter he should be doing something if he has the time

Narumi is going to be having more issues with things she never dealt with before. Poor Narumi.

**Author Notes:  
**Work on other stories proceeds and should be published soon.


	5. Secrets Revealed

A freak accident during the 5 point seal of Orochimaru had an unexpected result. Instead of one Naruto there are now two; one male and one female. The girl was forced to change her name to Narumi. The boy remained as Naruto but something is off about him

**Secrets Revealed**

Sakura was scared as she and the red headed Narumi were escorted into the Hokage's office. This was something she had not expected only a short time before when the girl had run into her on the street near the Academy. Seeing the Hokage was a major issue. In the mission hall, it was considered somewhat normal to see the man a few times a week as he would help assign genin to D-rank missions.

However, being taken into his office for an issue was something else entirely. Echoes of Morino Ibiki's warnings about S-class secrets and the penalties for breaking silence on them sounded in her mind. She gulped as the door opened and the light from the window behind the Hokage seemed to be brighter than normal.

She blinked as her eyes adjusted. Even her limited security knowledge made her realize that the large window behind the Hokage was a security measure as well. The darker hall and waiting room caused the eyes to adjust and any ninja who entered the Hokage's office would be partially blinded by the light on the room. That split second would allow the Hokage and his bodyguards to react to a threat.

She was pulled from her thoughts as she focused on the village leader when he smiled at the two girls before him.

"Ah, Narumi and Haruno Sakura isn't it?" the aged man asked casually.

"Yes Hokage-sama," Sakura said with a polite bow. She figured if she was in trouble, a bit of courtesy would not hurt her any.

Narumi just stood quietly. She was still shocked and nervous from the past half hour. She couldn't understand her own actions. Those boys had beaten up Naruto a couple of years prior and he, now she, was still afraid of them. Without some other person involved to make her overcome her fear, Narumi just reacted to that fear. Her shyness over her new body was still evident and that made things worse. The boys had taken her fear and shyness as compliance to their wants.

The part of her that was still thinking like a boy had expected a fight, not the near molestation that had followed. It took the boy trying for a kiss to make her react. Then, as she ran, the shame and fear compounded with something else she had felt, excitement. Narumi's body had reacted to the incident in a way her mind could not and would not accept yet.

Finally, running into Sakura had been the final straw to break her spirit. Memories of an enraged Sakura poured into her thoughts as Narumi had stared deep into the green eyes of the girl he had crushed on since before the Academy days. The beat down she thought was coming on top of everything else left her a cowering mess in the street.

The anger in Sakura's eyes when the pink haired girl asked Narumi her name still burned into her mind. The desire to fob the whole thing off and grin was still strong but now it seemed just the wrong thing to do. So Narumi had cowered once more under the glare.

A man clearing his throat startled Narumi from her introspection. She looked up to see the Hokage and Sakura both staring at her with concern.

"Narumi, are you all right?" Sarutobi asked.

"I … I don't know," Narumi whispered.

"What happened?" the leader asked.

Narumi just started spilling out the events that brought the pair of girls to the Hokage's office; the practice, the boys, the assault, Narumi fleeing and running over Sakura, that whole mess between the girls and being brought there.

For her part, Sakura blushed and felt ashamed as she heard how she seemed through the eyes of another person. It confused her. She could see now that this girl was in fact truly a girl. But somehow, she was certain from looking into the red head's eyes that she was also Naruto.

"Sorry, Naruto," Sakura said in a low voice. "Have I been that terrible to you?"

"My name is Narumi," the red head said as she looked down, a tear sliding out of her eye. "_He_ is Naruto," she finished in a voice Sakura could barely hear.

The Hokage listened carefully and gave a quick order to Cat. The ANBU left to carry out the commands.

"Sakura, you need to understand something. You saw the event happen. So did Sasuke and the person who caused this. Narumi and Naruto are two separate people. Naruto can get along fine since nothing about him has changed. Narumi is a special case. She is essentially a babe in the woods if you pardon the pun. She has only a few weeks of experience at being a girl and everything she comes across is new to her as a girl," the Hokage said.

"You mean it's not some kind transformation?" Sakura pressed.

"In the same sense of a henge; no it's not. Both whatever was done to her _has_ made her a female," Sarutobi said close to amusement as he saw various expressions cross over Sakura's face as the girl worked through the information.

"Even, down there?" she asked.

The Hokage chuckled at another look on the pink haired girl's face.

"Even there and everything that it entails each month I am told," Sarutobi said with a finality that said he was familiar with such things occurring. After all, he had been married for over 30 years before his wife was killed.

Sakura nodded. She understood now. Narumi was not being a pervert. But something else the Hokage said made her look up at him.

"But Naruto _is_ different, Hokage-sama. I can't explain it precisely but he is different than he had been before. His skills seem better. He is using his head and helped us figure out the whole Tora thing. His whole attitude is different now as well. He is, oh I don't know, just not like acting like Naruto anymore," Sakura huffed in frustration at being unable to express her thoughts clearly to her leader.

Sarutobi listened to the teen and thought for a minute before he replied.

"Would you say Naruto now is more masculine than he had been? Angrier, kind of hostile perhaps?"

Sakura frowned. "Well, I never thought of Naruto as being masculine but maybe. I guess you could put it that way. He has been kind of rude and confrontational since coming back. A little intimidating even."

Sarutobi nodded as he continued to think.

"And what would be your take on Narumi? Is she anything like the Naruto you remember?" he asked.

Sakura looked at the red head. "Well, she seems kind of tentative, sort of shy. Naruto would have stood up to the bullies but she ran. I guess some reason for that could be just being a girl but still."

"So both would be almost Naruto but not quite right?" the Hokage asked in a firm voice.

Sakura pondered for a moment before nodding. "From what I have seen, yes Hokage-sama."

Before anything else could happen, Tsunade arrived and went up to Narumi and started a medical scan.

"Are you okay? The ANBU told me you got assaulted," the buxom blonde said as she ran a glowing hand over Narumi.

"I'm fine, "Narumi said a bit confused by all the talk about her as well as Tsunade's excessive concern.

"I am so going to hurt those boys when I get a hold of them," Tsunade growled.

Sakura was amazed at seeing one of her heroes standing there fussing over Narumi. She just stood quietly until Tsunade noticed her there.

"And who are you?" Tsunade asked with an angry tone in her voice.

"Haruno Sakura, Tsunade-sama," Sakura replied with a bow.

"That name sounds familiar," Tsunade said.

"I am on Team 7 with Naruto. I was there in the forest during the, um, incident," Sakura supplied in a careful voice.

"You seem to be near a lot of incidents. I guess your luck is as good as mine," Tsunade said with a snort.

Sarutobi cleared his throat to get the attention of everyone else.

"Sakura, you must know that all of this falls under the S-class ranking along with the rest of the incident. As far as anyone will be told, Narumi returned to Konoha with Tsunade and is Naruto's twin sister. Do not fail in your charge to keep the exact details a secret."

"I understand Hokage-sama," she replied.

"Good, now why don't you take Narumi for some ice cream, my treat. I need to talk to Tsunade for a little while," the aged leader said as he held out some money.

The pink haired girl knew the Hokage wanted her and Narumi out of the way so she took the money, grabbed Narumi and hustled out over the sound of the redhead's complaints. No matter what, ice cream on someone else's money was the best ice cream of all.

"Sakura knows all about Naruto and Narumi, Tsunade," Sarutobi said bluntly.

"Sensei?" Tsunade said confused.

"Sakura is a bright girl, Tsunade. She was top kunoichi of her class mainly due to her intelligence. I felt it would be better to tell her the entire truth rather than merely give her pieces and let her make the wrong connections," Sarutobi said as he lit his pipe and leaned back.

Tsunade frowned at the pipe but said nothing. Her sensei was nearly 70 years old now. She would not begrudge him his pleasures at the hope he might live an extra day or two at this point.

"But, Sakura has helped enlighten me on a few points we did not know. The girl has known Naruto for a couple of years now and been on his team for the past six months. She was there when the attack in the Forest of Death happened and watched the event take place. She has met both Naruto and Narumi now and she told me just before you arrived that neither one seems quite 'right' as far as being the original Naruto. This has me worried. I now think this is something more than merely a split into two bodies."

"I believe the split is much deeper than that. Yin and Yang is the only thought to come to mind," the Hokage finished and let Tsunade think.

"So, Narumi would be the Yin part of the original and Naruto would be the Yang portion?" she supplied.

"Yes, I am thinking that. What Sakura told me is making me believe that. Before this all happened, Naruto had a tendency to hide his feelings from everyone and present a fake smile whenever he was hurting. So, people tended to stop seeing the real boy. But this split has changed everything. Sakura has confirmed a few other items I suspected and they all fit my hypothesis."

"Naruto, the Yang is acting out in a more direct fashion. He is not hiding his frustration or anger any longer. I have reports from ANBU that he has been making problems for a few people but nothing that could get him in trouble. He is all drive and little restraint."

"Now Narumi, on the other hand would be the Yin. She has Naruto's gentleness and overall character but little of the drive that made Naruto who he was. This latest incident has put a spotlight on her mental changes. Before this, Naruto would have stood up to the bullies and fought. But Narumi fled. That is a major change. A good portion of it could be the shock of having a gender change but it is something we need to watch."

"If she needs watching, why did you just send her out for ice cream?" Tsunade queried.

"She also needs some friends that are not her caretakers. The Haruno girl might not be the best choice considering how she treated Naruto in the past but she will get Narumi reintroduced to the other kunoichi her age. Narumi will end up working with them eventually."

* * *

Narumi just followed along as she was dragged out of the Tower by Sakura. A few minutes later, Sakura turned into a shop Naruto had never been allowed into before. Narumi pulled up short and stood in the doorway as the pink haired girl looked at her strangely.

"You act like you have never been in an ice cream shop before," Sakura said.

"I haven't," Narumi said in a voice that could rival Hinata for timidity.

Sakura frowned as the clerk wiping tables looked to the girls. "Come in, we have a special on sundaes today," he said warmly.

Narumi stepped further into the shop warily. She was waiting for the owner to call her 'Naruto' and tell her that she was not welcome.

The clerk smiled as Sakura pulled Narumi up to the counter.

"I've never seen you in here before." the girl behind the counter said with a smile.

"She's new," Sakura said grinning. The Hokage had given enough money to buy them both deluxe sundaes.

"Well then, welcome. What would you like today?" the girl asked.

Narumi was at a loss at what to order. Sakura noted her confusion and spoke up.

"Give us both a Super Deluxe Triple Scoop Sundae. Um, Moose Tracks, Chocolate Chocolate Chip and Rocky Road with hot caramel and the works."

The girl just nodded and started scooping out the ice cream. Narumi looked wide eyed when the sundaes were placed for them to take. Sakura grabbed one and gestured for Narumi to grab the other. The pink haired girl led the red haired one to a corner table.

Sakura dug into her ice cream while Narumi just sat and stared at the bowl and back to Sakura.

"So I just eat it?" she asked Sakura.

"Duh, yes you just eat it. What, you've never had ice cream before or something?" Sakura said with a smirk that quickly faded as Narumi shook her head.

"No, I haven't. They never let me in here before and this is the only place in town selling it," came a low reply.

Sakura paused for a second before smiling at Narumi.

"Well, you're here now and under Hokage's order so eat up," she said with fake cheer.

Nodding slowly, Narumi took a small spoonful and tasted it. The cold and sweetness of the ice cream were almost magical on her tongue. Before Sakura could stop her, the redhead was inhaling the ice cream like it was ramen.

"Careful," Sakura chided. "If you eat too fast you're going to get…"

Narumi suddenly winced in pain and grabbed the bridge of her nose.

"Brain freeze," Sakura finished as she arched an eyebrow. "Well, that killed the last remaining doubt I had about who you are … or were, Narumi. You can't eat ice cream like you used to eat ramen."

A few minutes passed before Narumi stopped rubbing her forehead. That gave Sakura a chance to think this over while she ate. This redheaded girl Narumi was Naruto but was Naruto as a girl. Then there were another Naruto as blonde and annoying as ever. But he had a new attitude problem.

Could she accept this one for who she was now? There were a lot of preconceptions she had as far as Naruto was concerned. But looking at the girl rubbing her head across the table, she could see many of them not applying to her. Sakura put down her spoon and just looked at the other girl. She could see a true resemblance to Naruto in the girl.

Narumi caught Sakura staring at her and flushed. Sakura smirked and relaxed her stare a bit.

"Relax, I'm not going to hit you. I only hit your 'brother' and that is when he is being stupid," Sakura said.

Narumi looked down and replied in her soft voice.

"Or when he showed up Sasuke. Or asked you out so you wouldn't feel bad about being rejected by Sasuke. Or when you just felt like it," she said in a low hurt sounding voice.

Sakura bristled under the accusation but the hurt in Narumi's eyes stopped her from doing anything. The pause made her thoughts wander enough to see that the redhead was telling the truth.

Sakura paled as she thought or how shallow she had been. 'No wonder Naruto is so cold to me now,' she thought.

The girls ate in silence after that until the sundaes were gone.

"So what now Narumi? Are you going to be on Team 7 with the rest of us?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know. Tsunade has me on off duty for more training until next month so that I learn all I can about being a girl first. It's all so weird to me," said Narumi.

Sakura just nodded. She figured she would have a similar feeling about suddenly finding herself as a boy. There were so many things she found that she wanted to ask Narumi but so many of them concerned Naruto now. Just by asking the girl about a person she wasn't anymore would be cruel to the girl. Sakura had not ever thought of her actions as being cruel or abusive to Naruto before. But now she realized she had abused the blonde boy this girl used to be a part of and she felt ashamed for that.

She thought this could be a second chance for both of them. "A second chance," she muttered.

"What?" asked Narumi when she heard Sakura mutter under her breath.

"I said 'a second chance'. You get to start over as a new person, don't you? No one knows who you are or where you came from. You get a second chance, a new start," Sakura said as she smiled. 'And I can make up for some of my abuse to you, Naruto ... Narumi… whatever,' she added in her head.

"Um, Narumi, you want to practice with me tomorrow?" Sakura asked.

* * *

Naruto sneezed as he walked into his apartment. He carefully checked the traps he had laid and was pleased that no one had sprung them. Even so he made a quick inspection of his things before he pulled out some ingredients for dinner. He smiled for a moment and wondered why he was doing all of this himself.

He lifted his fingers and made a hand sign speaking out the jutsu name and summoning a shadow clone. He staggered a moment after it was formed. He actually felt a chakra drain from doing that! He felt close to his normal strength but he knew that there was something different with him making his best jutsu. He made the seal once more and called out a pair this time. He panted once as the clones formed on either side of him. He wondered what was wrong with him. He felt like he had just done a full afternoon of training just from making those few shadow clones.

He ordered the clones to get to work making dinner while he went to rest for a few minutes. He had just lay down when a sharp memory hit his mind. He had spilled a large bottle of soy sauce into the stir fry a clone was making and that clone responded by smacking him on the head. Naruto frowned that he was certain he had been laying in bed when this 'incident' happened.

Naruto got up and hurried to the kitchen to find one less clone and a ruined stir fry being argued over by the two remaining clones. The clones both looked at the original and stopped arguing.

'How did I know the stir fry was ruined?' Naruto thought as he sighed and tried to salvage what he could of the dinner.

As the evening progressed, Naruto kept thinking back on the incident. Somehow he knew what the clone had experienced. He could recall that months before he had only read the jutsu instructions of shadow clones but not the details of what it did or its overall effect. There was something important he had missed at that point and now he had a clue what it might be.

He had an idea on a test. He summoned a clone and sent it to the bedroom. He grumbled at the drain he felt creating the thing but he needed to know. A few seconds later the idea that he was putting his weapons pouch on his pillow along with a book of poetry. He hurried to the bedroom and saw the items on his bed.

'Somehow, I get the memories of the clones when they dispel,' he realized. He had also felt slight jolt of his chakra refreshing a bit at the same time as the memories. 'I think a little of my chakra in the clones returns to me carrying the memories as well. Before I had too much chakra to even notice but I guess since I don't have the chakra I did before it stands out more in my awareness. Like you wouldn't notice a cup full of water poured into a tank but you would if it was poured into a gallon jug.'

Naruto nodded to himself with this idea and it seemed ot fit. Going over the Academy books he had ignored before was paying off already. A large amount of his mental problems had little to do with his intelligence but rather his self imposed ignorance of facts from skipping class. Likely less chakra to work with explained his greater control since coming out of the hospital.

'One more test,' he thought as he made a jutsu he detested for years. A single illusion clone; a bunshin; appeared before him. The details were slightly off but it was better than any simple bunshin he had ever made. He cast it once more and now a perfect bunshin stood next to the slightly off one.

Naruto laughed at the sight before him. This had been unexpected but something he could deal with. He looked at his many scrolls he had acquired over the years. Various jutsu of many types and levels he had never been able to make work lay written in those pages. Oh, were the teme and Pinkie in for a surprise very, very soon.

* * *

Night settled on Konoha and a shadow moved away from the hospital. A brief glint of light flashed off his glasses as he looked around. In his pocket, copies of a number of files from the highest security section lay hidden within a scroll.

'Orochimaru will be pleased to have these files,' the thief thought.

* * *

Anko glared at the three boys who had just been thrown out of the Academy and sent to her interrogation room.

"So, I hear you like to go after unwilling girls and try to molest them," she asked her temporary playthings.

* * *

Tsunade frowned down at her student in the morning light. Narumi simply withered under the stern gaze but did not back off. The blonde woman nodded to herself as she recalled her talk the prior day with the Hokage.

"Narumi, I need to know a few things. The incident yesterday has me concerned," she began,

The girl under her gaze just nodded.

"Why didn't you fight back against those boys?" the Sannin asked directly.

"I … I don't know. I just never fight back against anyone. I normally would yell back if someone accused me of something or run off instead," she said.

"Do you realize what they could have done to you, Narumi? It could have quickly gone past them trying for a kiss or a feel. They could have kept on going and raped you if you did nothing to stop them," Tsunade growled out.

"Raped? But only girls … only girls get raped." Narumi paled as she made the connection she had been avoiding in her own mind.

"That's mostly right, Narumi. Captured kunoichi can get raped. And now _you_ are one of them. I wish this lesson had been an academic one and not a near miss. You need to realize that at _all_ times you _are_ a girl and to learn to think as a girl does in all situations," the blonde finished with a frown.

"But what if this can be fixed?" Narumi tried grasping at that false hope.

Tsunade just arched her eyebrow at her distant cousin with a look of 'are you really that stupid?' on her face.

"I don't _want_ to be a girl. I didn't _ask_ to be a girl. I don't want to _act_ like a girl," Narumi shouted in the beginnings of a hissy fit.

Tsunade stopped that quickly with a resounding slap on Narumi's cheek.

"Listen to me, _missy_," Tsunade said to the teen as she poked the girl in the chest. "You might not have had any choice in the matter but right now and likely forever that is what you are. You need to accept that and move on. You don't have a choice, Narumi."

I. AM. NARUTO!" the girl screamed as she slapped away Tsunade's finger in anger.

Tsunade smirked some at that. "Getting feisty now huh?" she taunted. The anger was a positive sign but the healer wanted to know what else was lurking below the surface.

"You never fought back huh? Even after they threw Naruto out of places or never ever allowed him past the front door? You never got angry at them?" Tsunade said in a tight voice.

"Of course I did!" Narumi yelled. "I just couldn't do anything about it!"

"Why?" Tsunade demanded as she flared her killer intent to cow the girl a bit.

"Because it would only make things worse for me. People would glare at me more and even the nicer ones got colder when I did. It … hurt," Narumi said as she calmed down slightly. "They mostly never did anything more than glare. Once or twice someone would try to do more than throw me out but they would get taken away for a few days and avoid me after that. I never knew why until recently."

"So it made you angry but you never acted on it. Are you still as angry now? Think about the last time you had to force down your anger. Are you still as angry?" Tsunade instructed.

Narumi thought about one incident and then another. "I can remember them and how I felt at the time. I know I was angry but I don't really feel so angry anymore," she replied confused.

Tsunade nodded. One more point confirmed.

"But you can still _get_ angry. You showed that a minute ago."

Narumi nodded in agreement.

"But, that does not change the fact that you are no longer Naru_to_. Now you are Naru_mi_. You need to react to all things as Narumi, a girl and kunoichi of Konoha. Any man or boy looking at you will see the pretty face and body of yours and think 'girl' and all sorts of other things related to girls as well. They are going to check you out and mentally compare you to other girls. They are going to want to touch you and possess you and have sex with you. You will need to deal with that. Not Naruto. You. Uzumaki Narumi will have to deal with those looks and lusts and all the other things," said Tsunade in a stern voice.

Narumi shuddered at any of those things or thoughts being directed at her. She had not considered any of that yet. It frightened her.

"How do you deal with all of that?" she whispered.

"Mostly through experience, Narumi. Don't forget, girls have an entire lifetime to get used to that kind of behavior and stares from men. You have had all of three weeks and not even a single day alone in public. That naked girl jutsu of yours Sensei told me about should have taught you something about how men think about women. You can use that knowledge and your own less than pure thoughts from when you were Naruto to know what men are doing and thinking and deal with it that way."

"If men try what those boys did yesterday, you need to do something. One thing you cannot do is be passive and just let them do things thinking that they will respect your wishes. You tell them no. If that doesn't work, you fight back or find another way out of the situation. You act in the knowledge that if you just stand there meekly, those men; those rapists; will have you on your back with your legs spread and doing as they want to you."

Narumi was looking sick now so Tsunade decided to stop and change the subject.

"Enough of that for now. It is time for dodging practice," she said with a new smirk.

Narumi looked up from her thoughts and ran for cover as the first rubber ball whizzed past her head.

* * *

A sore Narumi headed out of the Senju estate wearing her normal ninja clothes to see a pair of other girls waiting by the gate.

Sakura looked up and waved as the redhead came closer.

"Hey, Narumi," Sakura said happily. "I ran into Piggy on my way over and figured she could come along."

The blonde girl punched Sakura on the shoulder and spoke to Narumi.

Hi, I'm Yamanaka Ino. Just stay away from my Sasuke and we should be good friends," she said.

Narumi gave a sickly smile at the thought of Sasuke and replied, "Um, no problem. I don't think he would be my type. I'm Uzumaki Narumi." The redhead waited on the blonde's reaction to her name.

"That's the same name as that blonde baka Naruto," Ino cried out.

"Yeah, he's my twin brother. I just got back to town with Tsunade last week," Narumi said nervously.

"That's weird. It must suck having a brother like Naruto," Ino stated.

"Well, I'm sure he is not that bad. I only met him in person twice since I got here and he didn't seem too bad," Narumi said feeling nervous talking about her 'brother'.

"Well, I am not going to stand here talking about Naruto," Sakura grumbled as she turned to head off. "We were going to get in some practice, Ino. You're welcome to join in. Kaka-sensei is busy so I don't have team stuff today."

Ino thought for a moment. She still had a bit more than a week before the Chunin Exam finals. She could use a little more practice. "Sure," she decided.

The trio made their way to Team 7's normal training area. They were surprised to see someone already there. A blonde boy wearing black shorts and no shirt was standing in the middle of the area. His back was to them so he had not seen them yet. His attention was focused on a scroll in his hands. As the girls got closer, the boy put the scroll down and made a series of hand signs before saying a jutsu name too quiet for them to hear. His hand pushed out and the grass in front of him flattened away from the boy as a blast of air came from his palm.

"Naruto?" called out Sakura.

The blonde boy turned to see the trio of girls behind him. Both Sakura and Ino were shocked for a moment as Naruto's body. The orange jumpsuit had always kept it hidden and both girls were stunned by how good the boy looked without a shirt. He was not heavily muscled but he was well proportioned for his age and had little body fat to hide it.

Narumi wanted to hurl. She would have never gone out like that 'before'. But just seeing the boy she used to be standing before her got her angry.

"Oh kami, put a shirt on before these two start drooling, _little brother_," Narumi griped.

Naruto was brought up short by the comment from the redhead. He narrowed his eyes at her as he realized who the girl was.

"Little brother?" he inquired warily.

"You already forgot meeting your _big sister_ Narumi? After all Tsunade did bring me back here with her. But still, you should remember those meetings with the Hokage. It is already in the records that way," Narumi said in a snide voice.

"Oh, I remember the meetings. It was no one made mention of that fact, Naru_mi_," the boy replied almost snarling.

Sakura and Ino had composed themselves by now. They stepped back as the 'siblings' were glaring at one another.

"In fact, I don't even see why you are even out here, Naru_mi_," Naruto growled out.

"I met Sakura yesterday and she invited me to practice taijutsu with her today. We didn't expect to run into you," Narumi countered.

"Oh really? Well since I was here first I got the field. Unless you want to beat me at taijutsu and take it away, _big sister_," Naruto said in a cold voice.

Sakura looked warily at both Uzumaki and tried to break in, "We can go somewhere else, Narumi."

The two people who were once one both spoke in unison, "That's not necessary, Sakura."

Narumi stepped up closer to Naruto and got into her taijutsu stance.

"Are you sure you want to do this? You might get hurt and start crying again, _big sister_," Naruto said baiting the girl.

"Bring it, _little brother_," she snarled at the boy who had taken away her life.

* * *

Next Chapter: Sibling Rivalry

* * *

**End Notes:  
**A little more education for Narumi and a really bad encounter for the twins. The ice cream bit is sort of something I got from watching some Ranma 1/2.

A reminder, Naruto is primarily the darker/yang parts of the original while Narumi is primarily the lighter/yin parts. But each still has some of the opposite within them as Narumi showed by getting angry. Naruto/Yami has redeeming qualities but they have not been highlighted yet but glimpses have been seen. His treating in kind those that are fair to him. His not leaving a passed out Hinata in the alley. Even at his darkest, NAruto/Yami is not an evil person, just angry.

The ice cream flavors used are my daughter's three favorites. She loves her chocolate.

**Review Notes:**  
regarding the taijutsu teacher. He was there to help explain multiple characters having poor taijutsu. Sasuke had some training in his clan's style as well as having the resources and teaching materials left behind after the rest of the clan was killed.

Naruto/Yami is more of an anti-hero starting out than he is anything else. He did stuff the notebook he took from Jiraiya into Hinata's pocket but that was more of a gift than an attempt to get her in trouble

I have no plans to give anyone alternate forms or exotic weapons.

The power of the Kyuubi remains behind the seal which is on Narumi. It has no mind and is simply a mass of chakra. The consciousness/soul/essense of the Kyuubi is currently within Naruto's subconscious slowly regaining enough strength to become independent and start on the path to regaining its power from the seal, the Shinigami and any residual bits laying around like from within Sora.


	6. Sibling Rivalry

A freak accident during the 5 point seal of Orochimaru had an unexpected result. Instead of one Naruto there are now two; one male and one female. The girl was forced to change her name to Narumi. The boy remained as Naruto but something is off about him.

* * *

In this corner, Uzumaki Naruto, the Blonde Baka of Konoha. In the other corner, Uzumaki Narumi, the Fiery Redhead. They both bring a lot of baggage to this match and neither one seems to want to give an inch.

Are you ready?

For the two in attendance and the thousands reading at home,

Let's Get Ready to Rumbllllllllllllllllllle!

[sends a cyber nickel to Jimmy Buffer]

* * *

**Sibling Rivalry**

_Narumi stepped up closer to Naruto and got into her taijutsu stance._

"_Are you sure you want to do this? You might get hurt and start crying again, _big sister_," Naruto said baiting the girl._

"_Bring it,_ little brother_," she snarled at the boy who had taken away her life._

* * *

Ino looked back and forth at the Uzumaki twins as she tried to process what was happening. Somehow, Naruto the orphan with no family had a sister and they did not like each other. The killing intent between the faced off pair was rising rapidly. In real terms it was already past what she had felt during training with Asuma-sensei. However, there was a malice in it that made her shudder.

"Sakura, we need to do something," she whispered to the pink haired girl beside her.

Sakura just stood looking on in shock. The blonde boy and redheaded girl were in essence the same person but the hatred between them put her off.

"I don't think we can without getting caught in the middle of it, Ino," she said in a small voice.

* * *

Naruto and Narumi both stood glaring at each other. Both were giving in to the hate they felt. Naruto had all the years of being cruelly ignored by the people of Konoha and now given an outlet for it he would let it all out. Narumi was feeling the pain of having her entire existence taken away. She had lost her name, her life, and her gender and seen it given to an imposter. Both stood motionless as the tension built between them.

A breeze blew across the field and dropped a leaf between them. That small motion put both Uzumaki into motion as they charged each other. Naruto was going for a quick knockout so he could get back to training. Narumi had the same thought in mind. However, their initial attacks both missed as the other knew which way to lean to avoid it. Each teen spun to confront the other and settled into taijutsu stances.

Naruto got into his unbalanced stance he always had while Narumi got into her new more comfortable one that Shizune had taught her. She pressed her attack on the boy and scored a series of quick hits that Naruto was never in position to block. The damage was purely cosmetic but aggravated the boy.

'How the heck is she doing that?' he snarled to himself. 'What is that stance she is using?' The boy jumped backwards to give him some distance to make his next attack.

Naruto sped through a short series of hand signs that Narumi recognized as a jutsu she could never get to work as in the past as Naruto. She disregarded it but quickly found herself in error. It was painfully clear that Naruto had a new set of tricks as a water bullet slammed into her chest and sent her flying back to the ground.

"My chakra control is a _lot_ better now, _sister dear_," Naruto taunted in a harsh voice as he let the girl get to her feet. His grin lacked any of the warmth that Naruto seemed to have in his smiles.

Narumi spat out a bit of dirt and was glad that no blood was evident in the spittle. She had taken a serious shot to the stomach and chest with that jutsu. Her initial anger was slowly fading as she took deep breaths to recover from the blow when Naruto repeated the hand signs and spat a series of fist sized water bullets at her. She almost smirked. The initial shot had taken her completely by surprise so she had not reacted instinctively. These water bullets were not nearly as fast as what Tsunade had been throwing at her the past several days. The girl dodged the water bullets easily and closed in on Naruto once more.

* * *

Across the village just before the fight began, many high ranking ninja felt the rising intent and had reacted to it. The Hokage, his pair of bodyguards, the pair of Sannin and dozens of other ninja were already converging on the training field. Many civilians noticed the ninja converging on the area but without an alert being sounded many curious persons headed that way as well.

* * *

Narumi closed back into taijutsu range and connected a solid shot to Naruto's chin that sent him stumbling backwards. The boy growled under his breath as he had been in the middle of another bullet. He coughed out a slightly pink ball of water and spit. The girl smirked this time as she settled once more into her stance and fired off more attacks at the boy. She connected time after time as Naruto tried to block but he quickly realized he could not stand toe to toe with Narumi right now. He turned and headed for the trees.

Narumi sneered and followed.

At the tree line, Naruto turned and fired another water bullet to slow his 'sister' down before running up the trunk of the nearest large tree. He quickly disappeared into the boughs of the canopy overhead.

Naruto ran along a large branch as he looked for a place to turn and ambush the redhead.

Narumi started to run up the bole of the tree when her chakra control slipped. She growled as she was blown off the trunk. She back flipped safely to the ground. She focused enough to run up on her second attempt. She looked side to side trying to spot Naruto.

A whistling sound made her jump to one side as another water bullet impacted where she had been standing. It was followed by a much larger air bullet Narumi recalled having been on the same scroll as the water bullet.

Naruto was surprised at the size of the air bullet but grinned evilly and fired off several more in the girl's direction. He was not sure why the air bullet was so much bigger with the same chakra being put into it but he would take any advantage he could get right now.

Narumi ran and dodged among the tree branches and allowed the tree trunks to absorb the impacts of Naruto's assault. She used her speed to try to close in on the boy as he was firing jutsu and standing still to do so. She rounded one last tree to finally see Naruto standing on a branch several steps distant and she charged. She thought her flank attack was successful only for her to pass through the standard bunshin. She flailed her arms trying to grab something but found herself falling to the ground where the training areas began to give way to an open area before the village building

* * *

Neither teen noticed the small crowd of ninja and civilians forming about one hundred yards away while a select few moved closer to Ino and Sakura.

* * *

The girl managed to roll with the ground impact and came back to her feet in a ready stance while scanning for her 'brother'.

He appeared on the ground beside her in a burst of chakra enhanced speed. She expected another jutsu attack at point blank range as she swung at Naruto's head with a backhand.

Instead, he ducked under the swipe and lunged at the girl once she was facing him. He tackled her leading with his shoulder into her chest before pushing off with his legs to drive her into the ground on her back.

The tackle left Naruto on top of Narumi while she gasped from the impact. He swung a leg over her to pin one hand under his foot. He trapped the other arm under his other shin and began to punch Narumi in the face with his whole weight driving down into the blows.

* * *

Ino was about to jump into the fight to help Narumi when Sakura grabbed her arm.

"Don't Ino. It's a private fight," the pink haired girl said as tears ran down her face.

"But he'll kill her!" Ino exclaimed.

"No, he won't," came a deep voice from beside them.

The girls looked to see a man with long white hair, green clothing and a red vest with geta sandals on his feet standing there. Both recognized him from pictures as Jiraiya of the Sannin. The Hokage and Tsunade of the Sannin stood behind Jiraiya as well. Tsunade was glaring at the Hokage who wanted to break up the fight.

"If they were serious about hurting each other, they would have drawn blades already," Jiraiya commented. "Right now, they are merely venting frustrations on each other."

Ino stopped and looked again but no more motion to help.

* * *

Naruto punched Narumi in the face over and over, first left then right until the girl's face began to bruise and swell. Blood came from her mouth as her head was knocked side to side.

"For years I had to suck it up! Watching you smile and laugh off all the insults. Knowing we were in pain but you would never _do_ anything about it! Yelling that you would become Hokage and then they would respect you! They are _never_ going to respect someone who they will not even let themselves _see_!" Naruto raged as he punched his opposite.

He stopped his blows to Narumi's face and wrapped his hands around her neck to squeeze but the girl took the moment of respite to act. Her knee came up hard into Naruto's crotch. The boy stopped as the pain made him flinch when a second harder and more accurate knee shot impacted on target this time. Naruto slid sideways as his hands grabbed his crotch.

Narumi pushed her 'brother' off of her and began to pummel him in the same manner he had done to her. Blood from her broken nose dripped down on the boy was she pounded his face. The girl began yelling just as Naruto had done down at her.

"You took my Life! It wasn't great but it was _mine_! Now I have to answer to the wrong name, to learn everything all over again and get watched like I am a liar and imposter or just a piece of meat for a pervert to leer at! You stole everything from me!"

Naruto conjured a shadow clone without a seal and grunted at the extreme chakra cost. The clone kicked Narumi in the head before pulling the girl off of Naruto and throwing her to one side. The effort to get up cost him even more even with the clone helping him up. When the clone dispelled her barely felt any recovery from the returning chakra. He wiped blood out of his eyebrow before it could run into his eye. He coughed and spat blood as he stood panting while he eyed the red head a few steps away. Narumi fought to catch her breath panting heavily as well since her broken nose prevented breathing through it.

"It's my life too!" Naruto yelled at Narumi. "All the suffering, all the hatred; I endured it just as much as you did! I cannot even buy groceries without some civilian fool treating me like scum! You at least get a chance! I saw you with Ino and Sakura-chan! You were laughing together as you came walking up!"

Tears began to roll down Naruto's face.

"I can't even get her to acknowledge me as a person! After just meeting you, you get something that would have given me happiness for weeks!" Naruto yelled as he drew a kunai and charged once more into battle.

* * *

Sakura's breath caught in her throat at the accusation. She could not even deny it. She wanted to make up things to Narumi but she had never considered doing the same with Naruto. The thought had never even crossed her mind.

* * *

Narumi saw the knife and reacted. She had no real experience in knife fighting so she knew that Naruto would not either. She backed off only for Naruto to throw a second kunai underhand at her. Narumi dodged the thrown blade but couldn't dodge the one in Naruto's hand. It sliced a large gash through her loose gray shirt as she barely twisted aside. The downward strike would have eviscerated the girl if she had not dodged. The girl's belly and part of her sports bra could be seen through the hole while a thin line of blood leaked from a cut near her belly. The girl growled at having her body exposed and realized that the fight had become serious and very deadly.

Her hands formed the seal for a shadow clone. The chakra puffed and formed into a badly misshapen thing that was barely recognizable as human. The clone was a hodge-podge mix of both Naruto and Narumi characteristics. It vanished in a new puff of chakra smoke as Naruto ruthlessly sliced into it with his blade. Narumi didn't react in time to completely avoid her brother and took a bad gash across her arm as she dodged to one side at the last moment.

* * *

Sarutobi gestured commands to his bodyguards. The fight was escalating quickly. If it came to a lethal attack they would now step in to prevent a crippling or killing blow. The aged leader was upset the pair had decided to fight but Tsunade suggested this would get the whole issue out of their systems. He would still prevent it from going too far if it had not gotten to that point already.

* * *

Narumi rolled and came to her feet as her arm bled badly. Naruto was trying to kill her outright now. Her shock quickly changed to anger. Her violet eyes seemed to flash as Naruto charged her once more, blood dripping from his kunai. Her body tingled and fatigue fled as fresh chakra flooded into her system along with her anger.

Naruto attempted to tackle the girl but she yelled in rage and a wave of chakra pushed him away. Naruto was thrown back completely out of the training ground past all the ninja there and toward town. He landed in a heap close to one hundred yards away from the point he had started at. Only the fact that he focused most of his remaining chakra into his body kept him conscious with minimal damage. His studies in the past week on his old textbooks were paying off.

Narumi ran after him and only Sarutobi noticed that the girl's pupils had become slits as the girl ran past him. Neither Uzumaki had really noticed the presence of the other people due to their focus on one another.. The people had backed off from the fight once the blond had been hurled in their direction.

Naruto lay face down on the ground and attempted to roll several times before moving to rest on his back. He blinked trying to clear his head of dizziness but Narumi was on him before he could get his bearings. Her eyes had resumed a normal appearance but her strength and energy seemed renewed.

A hard kick to Naruto's side and stomach caused him to reflexively curl up into a ball on the ground. Narumi growled under her breath and drew her foot back when a shout rang out from the civilians.

"Kick him again!" the anonymous voice cried out. Several other civilians joined in and shouted out various things the girl could do to hurt Naruto.

"Kill him!" came another anonymous shout.

The shouts stopped Narumi completely. The shout had broken the spell-like concentration the private battle had cast over the girl. It made her aware of the other people who had gathered and watched the fight. She looked down at the half conscious boy who she used to be her other half, her twin and now opposite. His face was battered and swollen; a cut on his forehead leaked blood down his face; a broken nose; a split and bloody lip. His breathing was ragged and forced as he tried to catch his breath from the kick.

She looked in shock through her own blackened and puffy eyes to the shouting civilians, and the silent shinobi and kunoichi who were gathered. A trickle of blood ran out of her own broken nose and down her face as she looked at the villagers as if for the first time. Her rage turned away from the boy at her feet and focused on the people nearby.

"STOP IT!" she shouted to the gathered people. "He doesn't deserve that!" She paused and let the anger fade out of reflex learned over a decade of avoiding confrontations with the villagers. Her voice fell to a whisper. "All of his life … our life … has been spent to keep all of you safe."

A few higher ranked ninja who had been present a baker's dozen of years prior nodded in agreement but some villagers would not pay attention. Before Narumi could say anything else, Sarutobi, Tsunade and Jiraiya were there along with several ANBU.

"Quite a busy morning you have had, Narumi-chan," Tsunade commented wryly.

The redhead looked up at her teacher guardian and flinched as her injuries made themselves known with the ebbing of her adrenaline high from the battle. The guards collected the combatants and headed for the hospital.

One ANBU in a dragon mask had noted a flash of the Kyuubi's chakra just before the end of the battle but none of his senses could detect any trace of it now. He shook his head and followed along.

* * *

In the hospital, Narumi was grumbling as Tsunade worked on setting her broken nose. With a small pop the cartilage was returned to its proper place and the medic set to healing the damage with chakra. In the next room, Shizune worked on Naruto.

"That was not too bright, Narumi. We were hoping to keep you under wraps for a while longer. A good number of older ninja and villagers are going to make a connection the Hokage was hoping to avoid," the blonde woman growled. 'You look and act too much like your mother. Between that and your name people are going to notice,' she thought.

"He started it!" the redhead said in a nasal voice.

"I bet if we asked him, he would say you did," Tsunade said wryly.

Narumi tried to pout but the wounds on her face ruined the effect.

Tsunade stepped back after sealing the cuts with chakra but she had left the bruises and black eyes alone. She could see the injuries were already lighter since the medic had begun working on the girl.

"How do you feel? Did I miss anything?" Tsunade asked in a professional manner.

"A little sore. My stomach hurts a little bit. Kind of like I had some bad milk but different," Narumi grumbled.

Tsunade barely kept a straight face. The medic knew exactly what was coming for the girl but said nothing. It was low and petty but life was not fair. After the incident today, she was feeling low and petty where her student and charge was concerned.

"You'll live I am sure. Now, the Hokage wants to see the pair of you once Shizune is done with the boy."

* * *

Shizune noted the injuries on Naruto and quickly went to work. The broken nose was the biggest concern and she quickly set it. She scanned the injury for deeper damage with a jutsu before applying the healing chakra. The medic noted the bruising and the forehead cut on the boy and moved to seal the cut with chakra. Naruto reached up and blocked her at that point.

"Leave the cut. Just bandage it please," he said in a neutral voice.

"Are you certain? It might scar if you let it heal naturally," Shizune said in her best doctor voice.

"Yes, if it scars, it scars," Naruto replied in the same neutral tone.

Shizune accepted what the boy said. The medic continued and healed the loosened teeth and cuts inside his mouth the boy had suffered but did nothing more. She knew better than to force treatment on an unwilling patient. The forehead cut was cosmetic damage at best. If it had been a dangerous or life threatening injury, she would have healed it over his objections. The medic ran a quick scan over the rest of Naruto's body and found only heavy bruising and low chakra. Thankfully, all of the earlier blood had come from his broken nose and cuts in his mouth not from internal injuries.

"Your chakra is low but not dangerously so. As a doctor, I suggest that you rest for the remainder of the day," she prescribed.

Naruto nodded to acknowledge the medic but just sat there as his thoughts whirled.

'I lost to her dammit. How could I lose to her like that? I had ninjutsu and she only had taijutsu. Her one attempt at a clone came out pathetic. I would have had her if she had not blown me off with pure chakra there at the end,' he thought.

"Well, no other damage so it's off to see the Hokage for both you and Narumi, Naruto," Shizune said with a smile at the blond teen.

"Yay," Naruto said half heartedly.

* * *

Both Uzumaki had the same memories up until the Forest of Death and both could safely say they had never truly seen Sarutobi Hiruzen angry before. They had seen him as the 'Old Man' and fulfilling his duties as the Hokage. But they had never before faced 'The Sandaime Hokage' from across the desk and borne the brunt of his anger directed at them.

The Hokage glared at both battered teens standing at attention.

"I have given you a lot of leeway over the years. Up until now, Uzumaki Naruto was seen as a troublemaker and a prankster in Konoha and I gave him little grief over his actions because I understood the reasons behind them. That was when you were a civilian. However, things are now different. Now, you are ninja under my command."

"Naruto, Narumi, you are both guilty of brawling in public. That will _not_ be tolerated in _my_ ninja. As punishment, you will both be fined a D-rank mission pay or perform a D-rank mission without pay and be confined to quarters for two days. If you violate the confinement without cause, you will be more severely punished. Do you understand?"

"Yes Hokage-sama," both genin said in unison.

Sarutobi sighed. "At ease," he commanded.

"I am disappointed in both of you. Each of you should realize that your positions are delicate and such behavior will work against you." Both teens looked suitable chastised at his statement.

"I understand you both are having difficulties with the way things are now. I would prefer that the two of you get along as siblings would with one another but I will accept a minimum of you tolerating one another in public as siblings. Can you do this from this point onwards?" the Hokage asked directly.

Naruto glared at Narumi with a mixture of envy and dislike but it lacked the outright hatred she had felt earlier in the day.

"I won't make any trouble for her as long as she doesn't make any for me. She is just an annoying big sister," he said at a time.

"Narumi? You have the harder part in this. Can you accept Naruto?" Sarutobi asked.

"He is my little brother, Naruto," Narumi grumped at saying the term but she knew she had to accept it.

"Since your legal status is as twin siblings, it does make for an interesting future for both of you," Sarutobi said changing the subject slightly.

Both teens looked at him puzzled.

"As there are now two of you, if in a decade or so you each have a family; I can push for installment of the Uzumaki as a clan within Konoha. The rules for it specify a clan as being two of more families of close blood relations spanning more than a single generation. If you make that, then people will be forced to recognize your families as a clan. That is something for each of you to consider. Now, go get whatever you need for food or supplies, Naruto. The sentence for confinement begins an hour after you leave my office. Dismissed."

Naruto simply turned and left after being dismissed while Narumi lingered for a moment before following. Once the door closed behind the teens, Sarutobi looked at his two students who dropped the genjutsu they were hiding behind.

"Well?" the aged leader asked.

"You do know this will not be the last of it if they are anything like their mother," Jiraiya said with a chuckle. "How many times did she get fined for brawling in public? Eleven or twelve?"

"Fourteen," Hiruzen said with a sigh. "You were out of town with your team a few times."

* * *

The teens both made their way out of the Tower in silence but once down in the streets Naruto turned and looked directly at Narumi.

"Why don't we just avoid each other from now on?" he suggested. "We never had family and we don't need it now. We are better off going separate ways. I can acknowledge us as being siblings as Hokage-sama said but that is as far as I will go. We are strangers to one another."

"No we aren't. I know you're lying and hiding how you feel. I admit I was jealous of ending up like this but I know what you are going through," Narumi replied in a quiet voice.

"You know nothing," Naruto hissed. "Always hiding from reality. That is what 'Naruto' did. Well, not anymore."

"Why are you so different? So angry?" Narumi asked in wonder at seeing the blond boy like this.

Naruto glared at his sister.

"I know I am the clone, Narumi. I've known since the beginning. But I'm not the same as I ... we ... grr ... as Naruto used to be before all this happened. I can't be. I won't be. I refuse to be that grinning idiot anymore. All those wasted years of grinning when people ignored me. Of doing worthless pranks instead of speaking up when I was slighted. None of that ever worked to my ... our benefit. It just gave people another reason not to like Uzumaki Naruto. It gave them a legitimate reason they could point to their kids for them to ignore us. To hate us. For them to look the other way when bullies would beat us into the dirt, leave us there and pretend to see nothing had happened. You know just as much as I do how it hurt. Why would anyone in their right mind want to be a leader of people like that?"

"Neither of us are that old Naruto anymore so we should not try and pretend to be. The Uzumaki Naruto everyone knew died in that forest last month. In his place was left you and me," the boy said before turning and walking away.

* * *

Narumi slowly walked back to the Senju estate where she knew she was likely going to catch an earful from Tsunade. The things Naruto had said echoed and replayed in her mind. She was not Naruto anymore in spite of having been him barely a month before.

Tsunade said nothing to Narumi when the Sannin arrived home later. There was only a disappointed look during a silent dinner.

After dinner, Narumi went to the bath and scrubbed herself clean before slipping into the hot water tub. Her bruising had mostly faded and the black eyes were considerably lighter. She considered what her brother had to say once more. She could see his points clearly but did not agree with them. Her brother was rejecting the methods Naruto had used for most of his life to gain acceptance. He was also casting away Naruto's goals in life.

But, she could not reach out for what her brother was casing aside. Not as Naruto at any rate. She would not been seen as Naruto no matter what she tried. The people could point at the blond boy in the village and call her a liar. She had always wanted recognition through her own efforts. But she would not force herself on the village with a confrontation based on something she was forced to admit she could no longer be. They would have to accept her as she was. Before that could happen, she had to accept herself as she was.

Narumi stood up from her bath and walked to a mirror in the bath she usually avoided and stared. She saw the facts reflected back at her; a redheaded girl with a cute face and average sized breasts for her age. Her view turned down to the narrow waist and slightly larger hips of a female in the midst of puberty. Her gaze drifted a bit further down and confirmed that no matter what she could not be seen as a boy.

She focused a bit of chakra and slowly the seal on her stomach came into view. It was her curse and she hated it with all of her being. But she could not be rid of it. She had carried it for thirteen years as Naruto and now she would continue to carry it forever as Narumi. Her gaze rose back to look at her purple eyed gaze reflected back at her. She could see the sadness in her eyes as she forced herself to see with eyes unblinded by what she wished things to be and look at how things were in reality. She shed a single tear for what she had been and hardened her gaze at the morror to face what was.

"I am Uzumaki Narumi. I am the prison and jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko. I am a ninja of Konohagakure no Sato and one day I _will_ be Hokage," she said in a whisper to her reflection. "Believe it all you doubters. And choke on it if you don't."

Then the girl turned and dressed for bed.

Late that night a scream echoed out from the Senju estate. Tsunade chuckled and decided to do nothing until morning about it. As petty revenge as she activated a privacy seal on her room to keep out the noise. Shizune was off at the hospital for the evening and Narumi would just have to deal with her new womanhood on her own for a few hours.

* * *

Next Chapter: The Chunin Exams and Other Events

* * *

End Notes: A long time between updates. Work is nearly non-existent in construction right now which sucks but the company is still hanging on. Fortunately as the accountant I am going to be the last employee if it does come down to that. Thoughts go to things more important than hobbies when facing trouble. As I said before this does not pay the bills so it gets last priority.

From Wikipedia:  
_The relationship between yin and yang is often described in terms of sunlight playing over a mountain and in the valley. Yin (literally the 'shady place' or 'north slope') is the dark area occluded by the mountain's bulk, while yang (literally the 'sunny place' or 'south slope') is the brightly lit portion. As the sun moves across the sky, yin and yang gradually trade places with each other, revealing what was obscured and obscuring what was revealed._

_Yin is characterized as slow, soft, yielding, diffuse, cold, wet, and passive; and is associated with water, earth, the moon, femininity and nighttime._

_Yang, by contrast, is fast, hard, solid, focused, hot, dry, and aggressive; and is associated with fire, sky, the sun, masculinity and daytime._

At the moment of the split, Narumi holds primarily Yin characteristics while Naruto hold primarily Yang characteristics. As time goes, both are showing signs of being complete within themselves. While both are not as pure Yin or Yang as people wish them to be neither is the line between black and while as distinct as many wish. Between black and white lie infinite shades of gray.

Author's Final Word: For those looking for the next chapter of 'Captured', rejoice. It is in final edits and should be out within a week.

Posted: 5/13/2011


	7. Naruto, Sakura and Chunin Exams

A freak accident during the Five Point seal of Orochimaru had an unexpected result. Instead of one Naruto there are now two; one male and one female. The girl was forced to change her name to Narumi. The boy remained as Naruto but something is off about him.

EdStargazer presents: Naruto: Split!

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto woke up sore for the first time in his months. His muscles seemed to protest his every movement as he rolled of his bed and climbs to his feet. The blond boy stumbled to his bathroom to deal with morning issues before looking into the mirror. The sight of nearly faded black eyes and a still livid pink line on his forehead was what he noticed most of all.

'Well, the cut will leave a mark but not scar too much,' he thought in disgust as he returned to his main room to stretch out his sore muscles. It took about five minutes of work before the muscles loosened up and he could move without much pain. Once that was done he went back to his bedroom to dress.

He spent his two days of confinement reading his older school texts and working on his chakra control. He moved away from leaves and used a trio of paper spitballs instead. He placed one on his forehead, one on his nose and one on his chin as he read. He chose to work on math problems while he did this exercise to make him need to focus on two different things at once.

Even so, the time passed more quickly than he thought it would. He did not mind the forced time off as the aches from his fight led to naps each afternoon. He could see what Shikamaru found enjoyable about the short breaks.

* * *

A much more subdued and grumpy Narumi woke and looked at the mess she had left the night before. She had stripped the bed and gotten herself cleaned up the night before but the dirty sheets remained in the laundry hamper.

The first few hours were spent going over the finer points of feminine hygiene. Narumi was required to wash her bedclothes by hand as an object lesson. Shizune disappeared into Tsunade's study with her teacher for a private 'discussion' about Tsunade's actions the night beforethat included a lot of yelling by Shizune. Later in the morning, Shizune was more caring on the subject than Tsunade had been the night before but the elder blonde reminded both her apprentice and student that they had gone over the fact it would happen at some point. Narumi yelled back at Tsunade that she did not expect it that soon.

After the morning had passed and the household settled down, Tsunade dragged Narumi out to the practice yard.

"Okay brat it is debriefing time. You will break down your fight with your brother and tell me what went right, went wrong and areas that you need to improve upon. Then I will tell you where you are wrong in your assessment," Tsunade instructed.

Narumi grumbled because she only felt like sitting and doing nothing but she complied. It would be a long day. Cramps only made it worse.

Narumi spent her next two days sweating in the Senju compound under the keen eyes of Tsunade and Shizune.

* * *

Naruto's confinement was over two days before the Chunin Exams were to take place. He was almost looking forward to a mission today since Kakashi-sensei said a lot of genin squads were on escort duty.

All of the orange pants he normally wore were in a box near the door. He had immediately written them off when he had undressed two days prior. Instead, he pulled a new pair of dark pants from his drawer. The money from the last Tora capture had left him enough to buy several sets of new pants after he took care of living expenses. He had enough weapons for the moment and would make sure to practice throwing them in an area he could recover his errant tosses. He was glad that he used areas that were favorites among genin and chunin. In the past, Naruto always seemed to leave with a few more weapons than he arrived with by carefully looking when he chased his own misses.

The teen chose a dark blue undershirt and slid his orange jacket over his shoulders but left the zipper open today. He began to tie his forehead protector in place when he bumped the still healing cut. He quickly tied it to his bicep instead. After one last look around the apartment to make sure his intruder tells were set up, he was off with the door locking behind him.

The small bridge where Team 7 met each day was occupied by a silent pair of brooders. Sasuke was his normal self. Sakura was more quiet than normal as she worked on braiding the grass whip she had been working on since the team had been let go after the Forest. Every so often she would brush her long hair back from her face as her fingers became more adept at her braiding.

The girl looked up at Naruto when he arrived but quickly lowered her head in shame.

"Hi Naruto," she said loud enough to be heard.

"Good morning Sakura," he replied out of sheer politeness. The boy then walked up a nearby tree and sat on a branch to wait. He plucked a leaf from it and placed it on his forehead to get some kind of training in while waiting for Kakashi.

The minutes crawled by in silence. Sakura plucked a few more long blades of grass to add to her rope and fussed with her hair a few times. Naruto shook his head slowly before commenting.

"Why not braid your hair, Sakura?" he asked.

The pink haired girl nearly jumped at the sound of Naruto's voice. She had expected something other than helpful words from him. It took her a moment to calm down and look at him with questioning eyes.

"Braid it?" she asked with a hint of hesitation.

"Yeah, braid it so it stays out of your way. That or chop it all off. Either one would work," he said in a dismissive tone.

Sakura didn't know how to respond. She did know how to braid hair but she always kept it free and flowing so it could look good for Sasuke. She had heard years before that he liked girls with long hair. That was why she, Ino and several other girls in their class and year had grown long hair.

She glanced at Sasuke and the reminder of her fading crush on the Uchiha motivated her to put down the grass rope and reach up to start braiding her hair. She started about the point of a high ponytail and worked down so the sides would pull back away from her face. Her headband got moved down to her neck for the moment as it was no longer needed to function as a hair band. She would adjust the cloth later so she could wear it as she normally did.

Sakura finished by tying off the tail end of the braid with a bit of wire since she did not have any elastics to work with. Naruto had spent the whole time watching in silence and Sakura glanced up a few times to see him just staring each time she peeked. The blond never looked away from meeting her gaze a single time.

Sasuke watched all of this in silence. He had heard about the fight between Naruto and some redheaded girl but knew nothing past that. Sakura and Ino had both been eye witnesses but neither was talking about the battle. For a pair of gossips, the girls were remarkably silent on that but he didn't press the issue. Uchiha did not beg. The brooding boy noticed the still livid pink line on Naruto's forehead and the lack of a protector on the wound while it healed. The Uchiha's rival never had a cut last that long and it make Sasuke think.

'Naruto has changed a lot since the Forest,' Sasuke thought. 'The civilians talking about the fight said he was using jutsu and still got beaten. But the girl involved was beaten badly as well.'

The dark boy decided then and walked over to the tree Naruto was sitting in.

"Naruto, fight me," the Uchiha demanded.

Naruto looked down at the glaring Sasuke and waited for about thirty seconds before replying.

"No," was Naruto's only reply.

Sasuke frowned. Naruto never turned down a shot at him. He felt he needed to prime the blond idiot a bit more before the boy would fight.

"Why not? You're not scared are you, loser?" Sasuke taunted.

Naruto arched an eyebrow and pulled out a kunai to clean his fingernails, blatantly ignoring the Uchiha.

"I'm talking to you," Sasuke growled out.

Naruto smirked down at Sasuke.

"You're not talking. You're just posturing and want to see if you can get me to fight you. I just got fined for brawling once this week. I am not going to lose another mission's pay because of you, Sasuke," Naruto replied calmly.

"A fine, is that your only worry? I can pay any number of fines and it would not dent my bank account. If we get fined I'll pay it for you," Sasuke said with a sly grin. 'That should get him,' he thought.

"Not interested," Naruto said as he slid the kunai back into his leg sheath.

Sasuke growled in annoyance.

"Get down here and fight me!" the dark haired boy shouted as he unconsciously activated his bloodline.

Naruto leaned over to one side and peered down looking bored with his left eye closed.

"Did you say something?" he casually asked in a good imitation of their teacher.

Sakura giggled at the way Naruto replied that time.

Sasuke turned red and was about to run up the tree to attack Naruto when their sensei arrived with a 'Yo' and a wave.

Sasuke turned and glared but was surprised to see Naruto hop down from the tree and casually walk to their teacher.

"Kakashi-sensei, can we skip team building exercises today and go over basic taijutsu? It seems mine is quite flawed and I need to work on it," Naruto asked in a serious tone.

Kakashi had heard about the fight a few days prior and been briefed on the outcome by the Hokage. The deficiencies in Naruto's taijutsu and other flaws had been heavily commented on. A point was also made to check in Sakura's skills as well due to some taijutsu instructor being charged with treason.

"An excellent idea, Naruto. All three of you line up in a ready stance," Kakashi said fearing the worst.

* * *

Kakashi groaned as he finally finished for the day. He had spent hours just working on and correcting the basic taijutsu stances of both Naruto and Sakura. Sasuke had learned the basic katas of his clan taijutsu before the massacre and had technique scrolls to help since then.

Kakashi had been ashamed of what Sakura and Naruto had to show for Academy training. Fortunately the girl had taught herself some basic moves after the taijutsu instructor in the Academy had ignored his students. Naruto caught on to the changes more quickly than he normally did before the Chunin Exams so that was a benefit. Kakashi felt that the team accomplished something today as two of his students showed significant progress once they had a correct basic stance to work from. They would each need a new taijutsu style eventually but the Academy style would continue to work for now.

'Was I really that neglectful that I never noticed how bad I was as a sensei for them?' he thought as he had watched the blonde and pink teens improved rapidly with proper instruction.

He frowned at the glares Sasuke had been sending at Naruto all afternoon. Something new had entered into the mix with this change in Naruto. The Sandaime had told him to watch for more behavioral changes in Naruto and he had noticed many so far. The team dynamic had already shifted immensely.

Before this, the situation had been consistent. Naruto would pursue Sakura and challenge Sasuke. Sakura would blow off Naruto or hit him and pursue Sasuke. Sasuke would ignore the other two. That situation was no longer happening.

Now, Naruto was ignoring both Sasuke and Sakura unless he needed to say something. He would offer his opinion when asked but made little small talk outside of 'business' matters. Sakura had stopped pursuing Sasuke and no longer attempted to hit Naruto even if she did not like what he was saying. Today, the rest of the new dynamic solidified with Sasuke attempting to get a rise out of Naruto and pushing the blonde haired boy for a reaction.

Naruto had finally turned on Sasuke.

"Sasuke, stop pushing me for a fight. The only way we will ever fight is in a spar overseen by Kakashi-sensei. A spar. Where we fight and stop when he says so. One where you keep your thieving shortcut eyes turned off," the blond said with venom in his voice.

"My Sharingan is not a shortcut or thieving. It is the proud dojutsu of the Uchiha clan and other clans are jealous of our gift," Sasuke snarled back at Naruto as he took a fighting stance.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that Sasuke. Whatever helps you sleep at night," Naruto said as he turned to leave.

"Don't turn your back on me, Naruto," Sasuke said in a threatening tone as the Uchiha flushed in anger.

Naruto just kept moving. Without warning, Sasuke began to go through hand seals for his grand fireball jutsu. He was lifting his hand up to his mouth when Kakashi grabbed it and stopped the technique.

"That is quite enough Sasuke. Naruto is right that you should only spar with one another under supervision. The idea is that you all get better and support ones another's growth," Kakashi said to Sasuke with a hint of a smile in his eye.

"I don't need his help, Kakashi. I just need him and everyone else to stop holding me back. Every day I don't get stronger I fall further behind _him_," Sasuke growled out.

Kakashi's eye lost the look of a smile as his voice grew hard.

"Sasuke, you _are_ getting stronger each day. And in time you will be strong enough to deal with your brother. But you want everything right now and it doesn't work like that. You need more than just power. You need to ability and training to use that power effectively," Kakashi said reasonably.

"Then teach things to me and stop passing me over for people who will never amount to anything!" Sasuke yelled as he activated his Sharingan and glared at his teacher.

Kakashi glared back at his student.

"I am teaching you with every action I take," Kakashi replied as he was beginning to lose his temper from being yelled at by a mere genin.

"You're late for training every day! You make me wait with these losers doing nothing for hours at a time while you are off doing other things!" Sasuke continued in a raised voice.

Behind him, Sakura looked upset while Naruto was frowning. Neither teen liked being insulted and this outburst killed the last thread of Sakura's crush.

"Have you even noticed what your teammates are doing the past few days while they are waiting, Sasuke? Ninja work entails a lot of waiting so you need to learn patience. Sakura is working on her finger dexterity by braiding grass. Naruto is doing chakra exercises and improving greatly in his skills there. All you have been doing is brooding. I have been trying to ease the three of you into things so you do not burn out or hurt yourselves by overextending your training. You forget that the three of you are barely out of the Academy and are still rookies," Kakashi stated firmly.

"We completed an A-rank mission. We were entered into the Chunin Exams," Sasuke tied to counter argue.

"You survived a mission that was mistakenly listed as C-rank because the client lied. If it had been hired as an A-rank you would never have been near it. As far as the Chunin Exams, I entered you because it was being held here in Konoha. I wanted this team to see what they would face in the future while still in the relative safety of our home village. It was intended as a learning experience for the three of you. If the exams had been held in another village, Team 7 would not have been entered into this most recent one," Kakashi explained in a firm tone.

Sasuke glared at Kakashi but said nothing more. The dark haired boy simply turned and walked off.

Kakashi sighed softly and shook his head slightly.

"I guess this means practice is over for today?" Naruto inquired.

Kakashi turned to his other two students and gave a weak smile. His sole visible eye did not seem to have as much humor in it as normal.

"Yes, that is all for today as far as team practice. There is nothing scheduled for tomorrow as the Chunin Exam finals are being held in the arena," the white haired teacher said before leaving quickly.

Naruto turned to gather up his gear when Sakura got up the courage to speak.

"Naruto, can we talk for a few minutes?" she asked somewhat meekly.

"What do you Sakura?" Naruto snapped out slightly annoyed.

"I just wanted to say something," she said slightly firmer. Her pride did not like being snapped at but she needed to keep a calm mind for this.

Naruto turned and stood looking at her with arms crossed. "What?" he asked bluntly.

"I know about … about you and Narumi," Sakura began.

"Duh, you saw it happen," Naruto said snidely. "Is there a point here?"

"I met Narumi the day before your fight with her. She was running from some boys that were bullies back in the Academy. She was scared and confused and she ran into me. I ended up scaring off the bullies away from her and then went to help her."

Sakura began crying. "She cringed away from me, Naruto. She was afraid of _me_ too. She was terrified of me and looking at me like I was about to beat her to death. I had realized who she was, well had been, right then. I was getting angry at her. An ANBU stopped me and the Hokage talked to me before I could do anything else. I decided that I would make it up to her, to both of you actually. I just didn't run into you until the fight."

"What you said during your fight made me think a lot. I don't like the way I have been to you. I realized how badly I had hurt both of you and I have been trying to figure out a way to make it up to both of you," Sakura said softly.

"You can't," Naruto said breaking into Sakura's rambling.

"What?" Sakura said looking up.

"You can't make up for it. Nothing you can say or do can make up for all the abuse you heaped on me for simply trying to be nice and boost your spirits," Naruto said in a cold voice.

"Oh," was all Sakura could say in reply.

"But," Naruto said before pausing. "But, you can change how you deal with things in the future. I have been giving people a chance to change before getting back at them. I guess you deserve the same chance. I just want you to be fair to me. If I am right about something, then give me the credit for doing something right. Don't think it was a fluke and tell me someone else could do it better. If am wrong about something, I expect to be told that I am wrong, not simply be called a baka and get hit over the head. Get it?"

Sakura could only nod in reply before Naruto turned and walked off to leave Sakura standing in the training field alone with her thoughts.

Kakashi left the tree he had been hiding in and realized he had a lot to think about as well.

* * *

The Chunin Exam finals started off with a parade of daimyos in ceremonial ox drawn carts. The minor lords relished the crowds along the parade route as they rarely got that much in their own lands. The biggest disappointment so far was the no show by the Kazekage. A messenger arrived that morning stating the man was delayed and would not be arriving until much later in the day.

Since there were fifteen genin competing that meant a lot of fights for the entertainment of the spectators. A time limit of fifteen minutes was placed on each fight but most knew that the bouts would not take that long. A ninja fight rarely lasted more than a few minutes if that long. The pairings had only been made that morning so the genin only had an hour to plan their strategy.

A jonin named Hayate was the referee in the arena and announced the first matchup; Nara Shikamaru against Sabaku no Kankuro.

The bout was over in just under a minute. Kankuro began boasting about his prowess while Shikamaru simply stood and listened. After the Sand village boy made a comment about Shikamaru's mother, he dropped to one knee and held his hands in the sign of the rat and his shadow changed. It flowed like it was alive toward the hooded boy and latched onto the wrapped package on his back.

Kankuro simply fell over and a burst of chakra smoke revealed the boy was actually a puppet. Shikamaru held one hand in place to maintain his focus on the jutsu as he stepped up to the wrapped package as it lay on the ground. The wrapping fell away as the Nara heir got closer to show the true Kankuro.

Shikamaru pulled out a kunai and poked Kankuro lightly on the neck with it.

"You're dead," was all he said before looking at the judge.

"Winner, Nara Shikamaru!" was the call.

When he returned to the stands, Choji leaned over whispered to his friend. "I thought you were going to give up."

"I had planned on it," Shikamaru replied. "But he had to go and make a comment about my mom. Do you know how troublesome she would be if I did nothing about that in front of everyone?"

Choji just chuckled and nodded in agreement.

* * *

"Second Match: Hyuuga Hinata against Tenten," the announcer called out.

At the call to start, Hinata rushed towards her cousin's teammate. She knew that her defense against thrown weapons was weak and needed to get in closer. Tenten began throwing her arsenal at the Hyuuga heiress as she constantly retreated and keep out of hand to hand combat.

The crowd made appreciative sounds at the battle. Hinata was graceful and clean in her moves as was expected of a Hyuuga in combat. She almost seemed to be dancing as she dodged and deflected the weapons coming at her while she pursued her opponent.

On her part, Tenten was getting frustrated. Neji always put down his cousin and she thought it would be an easy match. Her practiced eye could see how some of Hinata's moves _were_ sloppy compared to seeing Neji make the same ones but even so Hinata was quite a bit better than she had been told. Tenten reached into her scroll and pulled out explosive tags.

'Time to turn it up to 11,' she thought as she primed the tags attached to kunai.

The spread of kunai headed towards Hinata as the normally gentle girl scowled. She had been training harder the past couple of weeks since running into Naruto during one of her stalk-, um, recon trips. The notebook he had left her was interesting and she wanted to prove to him that she could be like that for him as well. But she needed to impress her crush before anything else.

'There is only one way past this attack' Hinata thought as she flared her chakra the moment the first tag exploded in front of her. The powerful detonations threw up smoke and dust obscuring the heiress from view.

Tenten flinched as the shockwave hit her. She landed and skid backwards some on the dirt. The crowd gasped at the explosion and its size. She was not prepared for what came out of the dust and slammed into her.

The moment before the explosion, Hinata flared her chakra and jumped. She had begun to meld the idea of the Hyuuga Kaiten with the Inuzuka Tsuuga attack. Both used a rotation but the Inuzuka jutsu was an attack while the Hyuuga jutsu was mainly for defense. It was still very raw and wasteful of chakra but it protected her from the explosives. She spun in midair much like a figure skater as she focused on her direction; which was right at Tenten. The blue sphere of chakra slammed into the bun haired teen and pushed her into the ground. The spinning chakra tore into Tenten leaving behind numerous cuts and knocking her out.

Hinata landed awkwardly but kept her feet as she was quite dizzy from the move. Pulling out one of her few kunai, she staggered over to Tenten and touched the blade to her unconscious opponent's neck in a symbolic move.

"Winner, Hyuuga Hinata," the announcer called out.

And the crowd went wild. Most of the Hyuuga sat in shock.

For nearly five seconds, Hyuuga Hiashi could have caught bugs in his mouth as he could only look and try to process the move his daughter had created. He regained his composure and schooled his features into his normal stoic façade.

'That move … has promise,' he thought as he joined in on the applause for Hinata.

* * *

The rest of the first round matches were nearly as quick. Gaara crushed one of the Rain ninja. Choji rolled over a second Rain ninja while Lee handily defeated the third. Shino easily beat Kiba with his destruction bugs swarming the dog user. Neji faced off against Ino and the girl quit before the start could be announced. Only Temari did not fight in the first round and she was matched up against Shikamaru to start the second round fights.

"Troublesome. The gods must hate me," Shikamaru muttered as he trudged down to the arena floor.

Once there, he forfeited his match.

* * *

Hinata had recovered and now stood facing Gaara. She was scared of this redhead facing her but she had to go through with the fight. Her clan's honor demanded it since she was capable of fighting.

Gaara just glared at the small girl in front of him. In her previous match she had been strong but now she quivered like a scared rabbit but still stood her ground. If nothing else, that impressed him.

The match was started and before Hinata could even move she was trapped in sand. It held her tightly and she could not escape. Slowly it pulled her close to Gaara and held her inches from his face. His green eyes peered deeply into her pearl colored ones and he saw what he needed to know.

"You have the potential to be strong. In time you might be able to prove my existence but not yet. Become strong because one day I shall find you and you shall have your chance. Then one of us will die," Gaara said in his raspy voice.

The sand cocoon lifted Hinata to the waiting area and deposited her there as the announcer called Gaara the winner.

In the silence that followed, Gaara walked out of the arena to wait for his next match.

* * *

Choji laced off against Lee but it was another quick match. Lee used his superior speed and striking power to pummel Choji until the larger boy called it quits.

Shino faced Neji but once more his destruction bugs proved a deciding factor. Since all of his best attacks were chakra based, Neji could do nothing to hold off the bugs and he soon lay on the arena floor panting and drained of nearly all his chakra.

Temari quit against Gaara before the announcer could even call them down to the arena floor. She knew better than to even let the match get called down.

Lee was excited to face Shino. The bug user had defeated a person that Lee considered his greatest rival. Shino was going to use his normal tactic but his bugs were confused since they could not detect chakra from Lee. Lee's condition that prevented him from using Ninjutsu or Genjutsu left him a blank spot to the bugs. Lee rushed ahead and leveled Shino with a single punch.

* * *

The final match would be Gaara against Lee.

Lee was bouncing in place while Gaara looked bored. At the sound of the announcer starting the match, Lee rushed ahead once more. Before he could get halfway to his opponent, the sand flipped Lee high into the air and surrounded him in a cocoon. Ten seconds later, the crushed corpse of Lee spilled to the ground while Gaara continued to look bored and having not moved from his spot.

* * *

Sarutobi sighed at the death of Guy's pupil but some deaths were going to happen. Gaara was responsible for the only deaths in the Finals as well. Sarutobi got up from his place and looked at the empty chair next to him. The Kazekage had never arrived for the Finals. This did not bode well to the old warrior. He turned and headed for the stairs to descend to the arena floor.

Gaara waited calmly but still looking bored as the Hokage emerged from the stairwell. The plan had gone well and now it would reach fruition.

"Daimyos, Citizens of Konoha and guest from all nations," Sarutobi spoke in a loud voice. "I present the winner of this Chunin Exams with the trophy and my personal congratulations on his fine performance today."

The aged leader stepped up to Gaara but the sand floor of the arena rose up around the Sandaime Hokage, surrounded and crushed him

* * *

Next Chapter: Battle Royale

* * *

**Author Notes**: Yes, it has been a while. PErsonal issues aside, I intend to finish everything I have started at some point.

The end of the chapter seems forced but I did not want to go into detailed fights as all too often redoing the Chunin Exam fights. It gets tedious but I highlighted a few things that would affect the future plot.

The opening bit before the story is an homage to old Marvel Comics. Back in my youth, they always had a header at the top of the opening page with the Stan Lee presenting the issue. That may continue in future chapters.


	8. Battle Royale

A freak accident during the Five Point seal of Orochimaru had an unexpected result. Instead of one Naruto there are now two; one male and one female. The girl was forced to change her name to Narumi. The boy remained as Naruto but something is off about him.

EdStargazer presents: Naruto: Split!

* * *

Battle Royale

* * *

Last Time:

_Gaara waited calmly but still looking bored as the Hokage emerged from the stairwell. The plan had gone well and now it would reach fruition._

"_Daimyos, Citizens of Konoha and guest from all nations," Sarutobi spoke in a loud voice. "I present the winner of this Chunin Exams with the trophy and my personal congratulations on his fine performance today."_

_The aged leader stepped up to Gaara but the sand floor of the arena rose up around the Sandaime Hokage, surrounded and crushed him _

* * *

The crowd gasped as the sand crushed their leader. Then without any warning, a large number of visitors began attacking the Konoha ninja and civilians in attendance. Dozens died in the first few moments. The training of the ninja kicked in after the first blows were struck and defense and counterattacks begin creating dozens of small battles in the bleachers. Even so, the Konoha ninja began to fall as many off duty ninja had little more than a kunai on their person. The crowd of friendly civilians prevented retaliation by jutsu.

The civilian populace pulled away from the fights when they could and some braver men would swarm the enemies near them if they could not. Some foes went down but took more than one person with them to their deaths. Then the attackers began to fire jutsu into the crowds,

Fire fanned out from the mouths of some while sonic attacks that would be now associated with the new Sound village took out great swaths of defenders and civilians alike. The sonic attacks were not as deadly as the fire ones but unconscious defenders were unable to aid in defending the village or themselves.

In the middle of this frantic battle was a trio of girls. Narumi, Sakura and Ino had been sitting with Sakura's parents and Shizune. Introductions had been made all around and they were having a good time watching the matches. The deaths bothered the girls but they did not really know the ninja involved that well. Tsunade had gone off drinking early in the day before trying to find a betting parlor. When the battle broke out, they had not been near any attackers and were able to get into a defensive position around Sakura's parents. Shizune immediately took charge of the makeshift squad and barked out orders to the girls.

"Narumi, send out shadow clones to defend whoever they can. Grab any weapons from the enemy and get them back to us. This is a death battle so do not hold back, do you understand?" she said to the redhead in a tone the girl had never heard before.

"Hai, sensei," Narumi said almost hesitantly but she formed the hand seal and with a burst of chakra smoke a wave of clones spread out to the nearby fights.

Shizune pulled several kunai out from a leg holster and handed one each to Sakura and Ino while Sakura's mom proceeded to start breaking the chair behind her to get some kind of weapon for herself and her husband.

Shouts from the nearby enemies came as they fell under the weight of a wave of redheaded girls. The cries were quickly silenced. Kunai holsters and fanny packs of weapons began to be tossed in the direction of the team. Narumi clones, Ino and Sakura caught what they could and began to assemble an inventory of what was there.

"Kunai, shuriken, coated senbon needles, smoke pellets, explosive tags of a type I don't recognize," called out Ino from one pack. Shizune reached over and took the senbon needles and looked them over quickly.

"Poison. Don't stick yourself, Ino," Shizune said as she took most of them. "Reload the packs in the standard manner for how Konoha uses them as but only with basic weapons and tags you can identify. Keep the senbon and anything you cannot identify with us here."

The girls sounded their understanding.

Narumi shuddered as the memories of dying often arrived from her clones. She just kept on sending out more to areas where previous ones had 'died'. The wave of clones pushed out of the section and into the one next to them simply swarming the enemies that attacked them and allowing other Konoha ninja to deal the death blows. Follow up clones would strip the dead and pass some of the weapons to chunin and passed the rest back toward her temporary teammates. Reloaded packs began to be passed forward to fighting Konoha forces who took them eagerly.

With more weapons available, the tide swiftly turned in that section of the arena, freeing up jonin and chunin to relieve other seating areas.

Shizune shouted out orders for the genin to give first aid to the wounded and call her for anyone in dire need of help. "For Kami's sake, make sure you stop them from bleeding out if nothing else!" she stressed. Dozens of Narumi clones set to work as Ino and Sakura struggled to keep up their task of reloading weapon packs. Sakura was surprised to notice her parents had begun to help with the reloads by sorting through the weapons and tags the girls could not identify.

* * *

On the floor of the arena, Gaara had chuckled when he had crushed the old Kage but he found the aged leader had been one step ahead of him. The sand dispersed to reveal a crushed lump of mud. Gaara growled out as he found he had been tricked. His less than rational mind looked around for the escaped prey.

The redhead boy was shocked when his sand reacted to block a staff of some kind from impacting his face. Even so, he was pushed backwards by the blow. The end of the staff retracted back toward the old Hokage in full battle armor from the previous war.

Gaara gestured and his sand rushed at the Hokage. The man went through hand signs faster than Gaara could follow and spat a wave of mud over his attack, stopping it and trapping the sand involved. The old man moved and Gaara lost track of his prey when his sand stopped another blow aimed at the back of his head. He spun to see the Hokage on one knee with his hands placed on the ground.

"Swamp of the Underworld," Sarutobi said in a quiet voice as the ground of the arena floor dropped into muck and water. Gaara stumbled down as his sand flowed underneath him to form a base for him to stand on just out of the mire. A large portion of his sand was now trapped or occupied.

Sarutobi rushed out across the swamp as if it were dry land to close in on the redheaded teen. The boy was shocked at how fast the man was moving and for the first time in his life, Gaara felt fear. He began to lash out his remaining sand at the Hokage but at each attack he had less left. He began to pull sand onto his body to use the chakra inside him of the one tailed Shukaku but he was blasted back off his perch by a blow from the old man's staff.

Gaara landed in the muck and began to sink. He began to panic as his sand would not support him. His sand armor shell was getting wet and weighing him down. His panic fueled his release of the bijuu chakra until a harder blow on the head stunned him. The boy felt something press against his forehead and he fell into darkness.

* * *

While the battle in the arena was being fought, explosions rocked various areas of the civilian parts of the village. Undercover agents had rigged bombs in apartment buildings, hotel rooms and public baths that were set off to tie up village resources and burden the defenders who would worry about their families.

Naruto looked up from the jutsu scroll he was reading when the blasts took place. He immediately began grabbing his weapons and getting ready to fight. Within minutes he heard fighting in the streets as the death screams of civilians began drawing closer. He looked out his window to see ninja wearing a Sand headband cut down a woman running away from him as a pair of Konoha chunin were under heavy attack and falling back as more civilians fled from the encroaching enemies.

'Kuso,' the blond boy though as he pulled explosive tags from his mission kit near the door. He worked as quickly as he could to attach them to kunai. Seconds ticked by as he worked and the sound of battle and death grew closer. When he had a half dozen ready he took three in each hand and went back to the window of his apartment. The battle had moved almost below his vantage point. He primed the first three tags in one hand with a burst of chakra and hurled them into the grouped enemy below.

Upon impact, the tags on the kunai detonated, killing the ninja they hit and disrupting the advance for a moment. The retreating chunin were able to gain some space as the next three tags hit enemies they had been fighting just seconds before. One chunin recognized that the throw must have happened as soon as they had begun to back off so the thrower must be above them. The enemy did as well.

Naruto retreated from his window and grabbed his mostly full mission pack and ran out the front door of his apartment as a retaliatory strike of explosions demolished his apartment in his wake. He ran down the hall to another window and jumped out of the building as an earth jutsu wrecked the structure behind him, collapsing it.

One of the retreating chunin caught him as Naruto fell out of control.

"Thanks for the save," the chunin said.

"Likewise," Naruto replied as he was set on the ground. He began to shoulder his pack when the Sand ninja began closing in on the new trio. The second chunin had been busy with his own tags as he had prepared several while fleeing. These were hurled into the oncoming enemy and took out several more. The fleeing civilians had cleared that section of the street as they headed for the nearest shelter.

The chunin introduced themselves as Izumo and Kotetsu and Naruto replied his name as one grabbed him and jumped up out of the way of another wave of explosions while the other dropped smoke pellets to cover their movements.

"Got anymore tags? We're out," Kotetsu asked as he set Naruto on his feet a block away.

"A few dozen," the blond replied as he pulled out more tags and kunai from his bag. The pair began to prepare the weapons for use while Izumo watched for enemy attacks. Naruto noted he was much slower and less efficient in his preparation than the experienced Kotetsu but he still did his best. The chunin also replenished his shuriken and spare fighting kunai from Naruto's bag while passing some to Izumo.

His efforts were halted when Izumo called out.

"Incoming. Naruto watch our backs. Escape route will be out five by me. Call out if anyone appears there."

"Ok," Naruto replied after a moment. The command meant they would flee if needed from the five o clock position based on the way Izumo was facing at the moment he ordered it.

For a moment, Naruto had felt slighted and used but the grunts of thanks from the pair reached his brain. He realized these two were not blowing him off and just raiding his supplies. They were treating him like any other Konoha genin who was sharing in battle.

Kunai were thrown and the trio fended off attackers for almost a minute before they began to be overrun and flanked.

"Enemies covering two, three and four by you, Izumo. Too many of them to stop," Naruto called out.

Kotetsu looked in the direction Naruto had called and nodded.

"Change exit to by seven from original point. Bug out," Kotetsu called to Izumo and Naruto as he threw smoke down around them.

The Leaf ninja fled from the more numerous Sand ninja once more.

* * *

In the arena, Sarutobi had restored the arena floor to normal and handed Gaara off to one of his jonin.

"Keep that seal on him at all times. He is a jinchuuriki and the seal is keeping his power contained," the Hokage ordered. The aged leader was glad that Jiraiya had left seals designed to subdue their own jinchuuriki.

The leader surveyed the area and saw the fighting in the arena had stopped with Konoha victorious. Few live prisoners had been taken and many Leaf ninja were looting the fallen for weapons. He smiled as he saw Shizune taking charge of medical efforts and the numerous Narumi clones helping. The Haruno family was passing out the weapons they had gathered to any friendly ninja who came by. Over in the competitor's box, the subdued older siblings of Gaara lay bound by the genin there.

Sarutobi nodded in pride at his ninja. It pained him to see the dead and wounded but Konoha would survive with ninja like this at his command. He looked for his bodyguards and gave orders.

"Send up the eagles. Stage 3 at once. Push these enemies out of our village. Accept surrenders but otherwise, no quarter. If they fight, they die," the Sandaime Hokage ordered.

* * *

Naruto looked at the empty pack and tossed it to one side. Three D rank missions worth of weapons gone in just a few minutes. Izumo and Kotetsu were in a similar state as they fought against too many enemies. They had dodged jutsu and explosives but they had run out of room and weapons to fight back with. They were trapped but they still stood up to their enemy.

The sound of the eagles calling out meant little to Naruto but the pair of chunin with him both chuckled wryly.

"We've been trying Hokage-sama," Izumo joked calling up at the nearest bird.

Kotetsu chuckled while Naruto was just confused.

"The bird call was to initiate Stage 3 of village defense; destroy the enemy and push them out of the village at all costs," Izumo informed the teen.

Naruto just nodded as it looked like this would be the end but fresh explosions sounded nearby. The closest Sand ninja kept attacking them but most had turned to their flank which was under heavy attack.

The Clans had entered the battle.

* * *

In different parts of the city, the push began. Sarutobi led the forces he had with him out of the arena. They left the genin and medics behind to deal with the wounded and dead but took every other able bodied person with them, including retired and reserve ninja. The Clans swept in from their compounds into the main Sand forces and pushed them back; in the process rescuing many solo and trapped Leaf forces along with Naruto and company. ANBU teams roamed the civilian areas taking out the scattered Sound ninja intent on causing havoc.

The Leaf forces that had fought the first twenty minutes of the battle had been hard pressed to slow the superior numbers of their enemies. They had paid in the hard coin of death but they had also bloodied it in the process. The Sand and Sound ninja expended much of their weaponry against the early defenders of the surprise attack and had yet to resupply. Given the few minutes time the deaths of the wall guard and city patrols had sacrificed to prepare, the fully armed, armored and massed ninja of the Konoha Clans pushed through their enemies and routed them. The body count rose on both sides but in the end, Konoha stood over the bloody battlefield; victorious.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at the casualty lists and the numbers pained him badly. So many people had died. Many more were wounded and would not be able to fight again. Thousands of ninja had died between the Leaf, Sand and Sound. But it was the hundreds of civilian deaths haunted him most badly. The innocent people who trusted him to keep them safe and he had failed them. Others could argue that he was not to blame but he was the Leader. Ultimately, all the blame falls on his shoulders just as all the accolades to the village do.

To make matters worse, Konoha now looked weak to the rest of the world. It had nearly fallen and still could if another major power attacked them. Rock was the most likely to fall on them but Cloud could as well. The minor war fought with Cloud after the Yondaime had died and the Hyuuga incident at the cease fire were still fresh wounds to both sides. Mist was still in the midst of a civil war so they were not likely to do anything.

Even the small villages of Rain and Grass could hurt them badly if they attacked Konoha jointly. The mighty walls of Konoha had been breached in several places and one of the gaping holes could be seen from his office window.

Sarutobi felt old at the moment. Retirement for a couple of years had been so nice before he had been forced to retake the position of Hokage. But of the few able to command the respect of the other nations, none were willing to take over. Jiraiya, Tsunade, Kakashi and perhaps Guy were all that could do so at this time and keep Konoha's reputation from slipping any further. Jiraiya was on his way back from his latest information gathering mission. He had left the day before the Attack and was likely kicking himself for missing it happening. Tsunade had weathered the initial battle three sheets to the wind in a bar when over twenty now dead ninja tried to interrupt her drinking. Kakashi was a burn out and Guy was ... Guy.

Morino Ibiki had the ability but not the clout as he had worked in the shadows running the intelligence unit. Nara Shikaku could lead as well but was not seen as a leader but rather a part of a greater team in the original Ino-Shika-Cho team.

Now, the summons from the Daimyo to make explanations he did not want to make came to mind. Danzo and his old teammates had been whispering in the ear of the ruler of the Land of Fire for years about how SArutobi was unfit to lead. He might be forced out of his position but he vowed that those three would precede him into 'retirement'. His recommendation would decide who would lead Konoha in the future.

* * *

Search and rescue was undertaken by nearly the whole village. All day and through the night and into the next day bodies were collected, identified and taken to a central location for burial. After being on the move and working since the fighting began the day before, Naruto was dismissed to get some rest and told to meet up with Kakashi for assignment the following day. He headed home and found his building completely demolished. He had expected that to be the case and started picking through the rubble.

As his apartment was on the top floor, he was able to salvage some of his possessions but not many. Only some of his clothes survived the explosions before the building had been collapsed. A few pots and dishes managed to be pulled out of the rubble. He sighed softly as his scroll library was gone. Years of scrounging and copying gone in a hour's time. His weapons reserve had been in the mission bag and those were gone as well. For the first time in his life he was glad he had so little in the way of material possessions so he had very little to lose.

The longer he picked through the remains, the more he heard some neighbors grumbling. People who never treated him fairly to begin with were beginning to crowd around as he worked trying to find some of his more important treasures in the debris. The grumbling began to increase in volume as he ignored them entirely.

He was not sure who threw the first rock but soon many people were hurling stones and bits of debris at him. He was getting ready to do something when Izumo and Kotetsu showed up and intervened.

"Go about your business people. You have no reason to be bothering this ninja," Izumo called out.

The civilians were reluctant to stop but they knew the pair of chunin would not allow the mob to exercise their 'righteous wrath' on the 'demon boy'. Slowly, the mob drifted away.

The two chunin simply turned back to Naruto and started lifting pieces of roof too big for one person to move and helped Naruto gather what little they could find. Once it was too dark to see, the pair tapped Naruto on the shoulder and simply told him to follow them. With his possessions in a bag made from a sheet, Naruto followed to an apartment block a distance away in one of the better neighborhoods.

"Toss the stuff in there for now. We three got an appointment to get to," Izumo ordered.

Kotetsu led off and within minutes, they arrived at a bar. Naruto was confused but followed them in. The place was packed with ninja of chunin rank or higher. The blond looked around at the solemn faces and turned to leave but his guides led him to the bar.

"Drinks for three," Izumo told the bartender. The man looked pointedly at Naruto with a glare before back at Izumo with a dark look on his face.

"He's underage," the bartender said.

"He is on _MY_ team," Izumo stated in a moderately loud voice as he returned the glare. Many nearby ninja stopped talking and looked on. Silence spread until the bar was quiet.

"I said he is on _MY_ team," Izumo repeated when the bartender did not move. Long seconds ticked off as the silence grew oppressive and the retired ninja who ran bar stared at first Izumo then at Kotetsu.

"Is that so?" the bartender finally said in a gruff voice.

"It is," answered Kotetsu for his partner.

The bartender nodded slowly and pulled out a dusty bottle from under the bar. He poured three shots of amber colored liquor and set them before Izumo, Kotetsu and Naruto.

"Newbie makes the toast," was all he said.

Izumo nodded. He picked up his drink and raised it face high. Once Naruto and Kotetsu matched him he spoke.

Naruto had never drunk before and knew nothing of toasts. He did knew he was expected to add to it. Kotetsu leaned in close and whispered in Naruto's ear what he needed to say and do.

"For everyone that fought," Izumo said then looked to Kotetsu.

"For everyone that lived," Kotetsu picked up the toast and looked to Naruto.

"And for everyone that didn't," he croaked out hoping he got it right.

There as a grunt of approval from the assembled crowd as the trio drank the shots in a single gulp. When Naruto set the shot glass on the bar, there was a quart bottle of sake waiting with three dishes. Kotetsu picked them up and led off to a table.

* * *

Narumi was shaken awake by Tsunade from her spot on the break room floor in the hospital. A field sleeping bag had been her bed for the little rest she had gotten. From the moment the Hokage had led the forces out of the arena, she had been Shizune's shadow and spare set of hands. The girl was ready with a shadow clone whenever it was needed. She fetched and carried supplies all over the triage area. One clone had even sat for hours holding the hand of an old woman who was dying from wounds. The woman refused treatment unless all the 'young people who can still have a life' were dealt with. The clone stayed with the old woman until she faded into the next life.

Tsunade arrived shortly after the Hokage had left with sake on her breath. She was giving advice to Shizune and all the other medics on treatments but avoided seeing bleeding patients if she could help it. Her fear of blood was kicking in badly and it took all of her strength of will to just function near them. The Sannin instead dealt with mainly with blunt trauma wounds and broken bones while the medics did the bloody work. Little was said about her actions but those that knew her understood. The legendary medic would answer any treatment question with what needed to be done but she could not bring herself to do the work on her own.

Hours passed and the body count rose in the medical area. Sakura and Ino had passed out hours before but Narumi kept right on working through the night until Shizune took the girl to the break room to rest. The teen protested that she could still help when the dark haired woman touched the redhead on the forehead with a forced sleep jutsu.

Now, on the second day Narumi got up and began to help once more. Medics had worn themselves out and had little sleep to recharge their bodies and minds before jumping back into treatment areas. The death toll was horrendous and each small victory over death was not even thought about past a nod and turning to fight with death for another life. The girl kept up with the duties Shizune had assigned her and her shadow clones freed up trained people to help with the more severely injured. A clone would sit and monitor vitals and status of a patient when the hospital ran out of machines to do so. A group of clones was assigned to start dealing with repetitive paperwork that needed to be filled out for the dead.

* * *

By the second evening, while Naruto was being taken to the bar by the chunin, Narumi was exhausted in body and spirit. The overload from the information gained from the clones had finally caught up with her and she slipped into darkness.

"Oh, my poor baby," said out a voice as Narumi seemed to wake. She looked to see a white area all around and kneeling in front of her as an older version of what she now saw in the mirror.

"What?" Narumi muttered in confusion. "Who are you?"

The woman smiled gently at Narumi. "My little Naru-chan. I'm your mother, Uzumaki Kushina."

"So, this is some kind of dream then?" Narumi wondered aloud.

"Yes and no," Kushina replied with a giggle. "I've been inside of you all along." The woman poked the seal on Narumi's stomach.

"Your father sealed the Kyuubi inside of you and locked in a bit of both of our chakras in as well. It would give you a chance to meet us after a fashion when you really needed us. Think of me like a shadow clone of your mom if that helps," Kushina said.

Narumi nodded a bit. She could understand shadow clones.

"Why?" Narumi asked bluntly as she lightly rubbed her stomach.

Kushina sighed. "It is hard to explain but the easiest is that I was the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi before you. When it was time for my little Naruto-kun to be born, your father took us away from the village. You see, when a jinchuuriki gives birth the seal holding the demon weakens. Your father was holding it intact but we were attacked by someone. They threatened you just after you were born and put an explosive on you. Your father saved you but the man took me away. He made the seal on me fail thus freeing the Kyuubi."

"He had a means of controlling the demon. It attacked Konoha that night under his command as your father rescued me. I was dying by that point as the unsealing was supposed to be fatal. Uzumaki have a strong constitution so I was still around but not for long. Your father freed the Kyuubi from the control of the masked man and brought it back to our house in the hills behind Konoha where we were."

"It needed to be resealed so I was going to take it back into myself before I died but I was not strong enough. I would be dead before it could be finished. Minato instead used a different seal to pull half the chakra into himself and sealed the other half into you. He put a bit of each of our chakra into the seal in case we were needed one day."

Narumi looked confused. "But the Fourth sealed the Kyuubi inside of me," she said.

"Your father. You mean Sarutobi never told you?" Kushina asked.

"No. No one told me anything about that," Narumi said in a small voice.

Kushina flared up and her hair flew out wildly behind her as her anger spiked. Narumi cringed down in fear until the episode passed and her mother calmed down.

"Minato had a lot of faith in that old man but he should have known better. Still, I know you have a lot of questions and I have only a little time to answer them. But one other thing first," Kushina said as she finished calming herself.

The red headed woman sat and pulled the teen onto her lap and snuggled the girl.

"I seem to recall giving birth to a little blond haired boy but a redheaded Mini Me is also a good thing," she said as Narumi struggled a bit.

"I'm not a baby," she protested weakly as she kind of enjoyed being held like that.

"Hush, I only got to cuddle you once and I am not passing up my only other opportunity to do so," the woman said in a kind voice.

"Can you fix me?" Narumi asked in a timid voice. "Make me Naruto again?"

"No sweetheart," Kushina replied sadly. "The mess that your father and Orochimaru created can't be undone. Rather than let the demon escape completely, your father's essence sacrificed itself again to cast a forbidden Flesh Clone jutsu. The demon retaliated by damaging your body badly and only the jutsu allowed you to survive. The purpose was to lock the demon into a fleshy body so it could be killed. But it didn't work out like that in the end."

"So I'm stuck like this forever after all," Narumi said sadly.

"Well, it's not all bad. I would have had more children in time and since I didn't, I'm glad to see I got a Naruto-kun and a Narumi-chan out of it in the end," Kushina almost squealed happily

Narumi pouted a bit hearing that but the almost crushing snuggle from her mom allayed the feeling a bit.

"I liked being a boy," Narumi said instead.

"So, now you just learn to like being who you are. Honestly, until you hit puberty the only real physical difference in boys and girl is the plumbing. So you learn to go on as a girl instead of a boy is all," Kushina said primly.

"But time for some serious information," Kushina stated shifting moods once more. "The Kyuubi is still around somewhere. Minato managed to separate its power from its will when it tried to break out of here. The power is still trapped behind the seal here." Kushina lightly touched Narumi's stomach. "The will got out with the darker half of your personality into the clone body. I do not think it could affect him much but it will do whatever it needs to do to get its power back. Until then it is vulnerable."

"It will begin by soaking up whatever ambient bijuu chakra in the air. You must be careful not to use the power directly from the seal if you can help it. If it gets back enough power, it will be able to create a new body for itself. Once that happens, it could go on a new rampage," Kushina warned.

Narumi nodded slowly as she processed that information.

Kushina tightened her grip on Narumi. "My time is almost up, little one. I'll see you again someday. Until then you be a good person and find yourself someone to love and make me lots of grandbabies," she said happily.

Narumi got a little green at the thought of babies, more so since she had spent her life until a month prior thinking about making them, not carrying them.

Kushina began to fade out as her energy depleted. "I love you Naru-chan. I always have and always will. Never forget that," she said as she vanished.

* * *

Next Chapter: Rebuilding Towards the Future.

* * *

**End Notes:** The comment Kushina makes about pre-puberty boys and girls being essentially the same except for the plumbing may or may not be correct depending on which study you reference. Most differences in young boys and girls are cultural anyway. My purpose for her saying it in this story is to make Narumi feel better. No scientific or religious views are intended to be upset. Hate generated from it will be ignored.

**Story Review Notes:** To people who thought Gaara could off the Sandaime like that, yeah right.

Lee getting squished was not to make needless death but was Gaara simply winning quickly. He had seen Lee fight. He understood Lee was strong and killing strong people proves his existence. He saw the speed the boy had and prepared to deal with him. It would be simple to leave a layer of sand on the ground to push up all at once to launch the boy into the air when Lee runs over it. As Lee cannot fly, he will travel in a ballistic trajectory until he hits the ground again. No amount of will, contortions or youth will change that. The sand simply was moved in his path as he travelled in the air and squish.

With Hinata, it was a different case. When he looked into her eyes he saw something in her that reminded him of himself, a desire to prove her worth and her existence that matched his own. Hinata is simply hindered by her chronic shyness. In spite of Gaara at this point being near psychotic ending her life would have been almost like killing himself. So he allowed her to live. If she grows strong enough to prove her existence, then him beating her afterward means he can prove his as well.


End file.
